Russia says Europe undermined its reputation as negotiable partner

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) – Europe has undermined its reputation as a negotiable partner, Russia’s foreign minister said on Monday.

“They have undermined their ability to negotiate,” Sergey Lavrov told an international forum in Moscow.

Lavrov further said Moscow will “think 10 times” in the case where proposals are made to restore relations between Russia and Europe, indicating that they will weigh them to see how much they meet their interests and “how reliable and negotiable these European colleagues are.”

He went on to say that restoring relations with Europe is not what Russia needs to currently think about, but rather how not to depend on actions by European politicians, which he said are carried out “under the influence of Washington.”

Lavrov claimed the EU is in the process of losing its economic weight, and that this process will accelerate in the future.

Russia’s foreign minister also said that his country does not and did not have plans of “aggression” or “conquest” in Europe, arguing that Moscow launched its “special military operation” in Ukraine because Kyiv “set a course for the extermination of everything Russia” with the support of the West.

He further claimed that the West is trying to maintain its dominance by using “openly neocolonial methods that cause rejection of the world majority.”

“The goal of our Western colleagues is simple and at the same time cynical - to continue skimming the cream from global politics, economics, trade, and to ensure their own well-being at the expense of others,” he said.

He said that Russia is not ready and will not put up with such plans “like the vast majority of countries in the world,” adding that the West is using a wide range of geopolitical tools to achieve its goals, including provoking conflicts, conducting information and psychological operations, and unleashing trade and economic wars.