Russia does not want war. Perhaps one of the main theses of the interview of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Russian radio stations. The central theme is agreements on security guarantees. Negotiations, according to Sergey Lavrov, will be continued. In the answers of the American side, although on minor issues, there are rational grains. And Russia is ready for further dialogue.
“If it depends on the Russian Federation, there will be no war. We don’t want wars, but we also won’t allow our interests to be rudely attacked, ignored. I can’t say that the negotiations are over. Because, as you know, the Americans and NATO For more than a month we have been studying our simplest proposals, concluded in the draft treaty with Washington and the agreement with the North Atlantic Alliance, and we received answers only the day before yesterday,” Lavrov said.
The US responses, according to the minister, are built on the initiatives of the Russian side over the past two or three years. But if then Washington did not want to discuss them, now it has returned the agenda. We are talking, for example, about the problem of medium-range and shorter-range missiles. It appeared after the US withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Also touched upon was Russia’s previous proposal to withdraw exercises away from the border on both sides and to agree on a maximum distance for rendezvous between warplanes and warships.
Our country is ready to discuss the details. But the main thing is to understand the conceptual foundations on which European security is built. It is on this that the future of negotiations will depend.
If the West does not heed the voice of reason, then, as the president said, we will take retaliatory measures. Answering a direct question about what these measures could be, he said: “They can be very different. I will make decisions based on the proposals that our military will present to me.” Naturally, other departments will also participate in the preparation of these proposals. An interdepartmental study of the received answers is now underway.
At the same time, if the United States distorts Russia’s arguments on security issues, there will be no compromise. Our country adheres to the same clear position on the issue of resolving the intra-Ukrainian crisis. The West, namely the United States, must force Kiev to comply with the Minsk agreements. This is the only way to resolve the situation in the south-east of the country. The current rhetoric of the West, on the contrary, only increases the tension around the Russian Federation.
“Now the Americans have begun to use Ukraine so openly against Russia that the Kiev regime itself has become frightened. They say, “Don’t aggravate the discussion, slow down the rhetoric, why are you evacuating diplomats?” By the way, who is evacuating? Canadians, other Anglo-Saxons. So they are doing something Do they know what others don’t know? We’ll think now, maybe we, too, in anticipation of some kind of provocation on their part, should take security measures for our diplomats?” asked the head of the Foreign Ministry.
One of the topics of the conversation concerned the development of relations with Belarus. Questions remain with the Russians detained in the country. Work will continue along this line. The new Russian ambassador to Belarus, Boris Gryzlov, has already left for Minsk.