Russia to take measures if Finland, Sweden joins NATO
"We need to draw conclusions from the accession of Finland and Sweden [to NATO] and if it eventually takes place, we will take appropriate military-technical measures on our side of the border," Lavrov stated at a press conference on the results of Russia’s diplomatic activities in 2022, TASS reported.
On May 18, 2022, Helsinki and Stockholm submitted their applications to join the alliance but the process was blocked by Turkey which demanded that the two countries designate the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) as a terrorist group, extradite those suspected of terrorism and being involved in the 2016 coup to Ankara, and lift bans on weapons supplies to Turkey.
Talks between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, then Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg took place in Madrid on June 28, 2022. As a result, a memorandum was signed making it possible for Sweden and Finland to join NATO. The Turkish leader stated that Sweden had pledged to extradite over 70 people involved in terrorist activities.
Support for Ukraine shows West’s stakes in war against Russia are very high
The amount of support for Ukraine shows that the West’s stakes in the war against Russia are very high, Lavrov said.
"The amount of support clearly shows that the West’s stakes in this war against Russia are very high," he added.
"When our Western partners, foaming at the mouth, are arguing that they are not at war with Russia, that they are merely helping Ukraine to cope with aggression and restore its territorial integrity, they are obviously being cunning," Lavrov said.
He also described as honest and frank Croatian President Zoran Milanovic’s statement that NATO was waging a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.
Lavrov lambasts Zelensky’s 'absurd' ideas of how to settle conflict
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is putting forward absurd ideas of how to handle the conflict, Lavrov said.
"Zelensky puts forward completely absurd initiatives, like a ten-point plan, where everything is piled up - food security, energy security, biological security, withdrawal of Russian troops from everywhere, Russia’s repentance, tribunal and condemnation," Lavrov said.
Lavrov stressed that negotiations with Zelensky were out of the question.
"At least because he legally forbade negotiations with the Russian government," he recalled.
While addressing the G20 summit in mid-November by video link, Zelensky said that Kyiv had its own ten-point "peace plan." He mentioned nuclear, food and energy security, the exchange of "held persons" according to the "all-for-all" formula, and the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity. Once again Zelensky recalled that Kyiv was insisting on international security guarantees and had developed a draft of the corresponding document. The Ukrainian leader added that Kyiv wished to see the establishment of an international mechanism to compensate for Ukraine’s losses from hostilities at the expense of Russian assets.
Russia to build new forms of interaction free of West’s influence
Russia will build new forms of interaction with friendly countries that the West won’t be able to influence, Lavrov said.
"New centers of economic growth are being formed. The West tries to impede this process, in particular, through speculations on the mechanisms that were set up to serve its interests within the globalization that it created. Of course, the role of the US dollar as a reserve currency is one of the main speculations here," Lavrov pointed out.
"This is why we are taking all efforts within the framework of our contact with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, BRICS and other structures, surely such as the CIS and the Eurasian Economic Union, as well as in cooperation with the associations of Asia, Africa and Latin America, to build new forms of interaction in order not to depend on the West and on its neo-colonial methods as it has now become clear, and this is what [Russian President Vladimir] Putin spoke about sincerely and explicitly. These methods were invented to rob the entire world already in new conditions," Russia’s top diplomat pointed out.
The West tries in every possible way to halt the objective process of the emergence of a multi-polar world, Lavrov said.
"Nonetheless, this frenzied attempt involving any means possible and prohibited methods to ensure the dominance of the United States and the rest of the West that Washington has made fully submissive, this frenzy reflects after all the understanding that historically they act against the objective course of events and actually try to halt the formation of a multi-polar world," he added.
"We will be building such forms of interaction with our reliable partners and friendly countries that will benefit us and that those who seek to subordinate the entire world won’t be able to influence," the Russian foreign minister stressed.
MNA/PR
Your Comment