Europe’s Coalition Against Russia and Kiev’s EU Candidate Status: Lavrov in Baku

Moscow is under no illusion that the EU will change its attitude to Russia, or abandon Russophobic policies, the Russian Foreign Minister noted

© Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service/TASS

BAKU, June 24. /TASS/. The European Union and NATO are building a coalition against Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference following talks with Azerbaijani top diplomat Jeyhun Bayramov in Baku on Friday. However, in Lavrov’s words, Russia doesn’t see any risks in Ukraine and Moldova getting EU candidate status though there are no illusions that the EU will abandon its Russophobic policies anytime soon. TASS has put together the key remarks that the Russian top diplomat made.

On coalition against Russia

"When World War II broke out, Hitler united a significant number - if not most - of the European countries under his banner for a war against the Soviet Union. Today, the EU and NATO are acting in a similar way, building a modern coalition of the same kind for a fight and pretty much a war against Russia."

On EU candidate status for Ukraine and Moldova

Moscow does not see any risks to its interests in the European Union’s decision to grant candidate status to Kiev and Chisinau: "The EU is not a political bloc like the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The development of its relations with any willing countries does not create threats or risks for us."

On EU’s possible policy shift

Moscow is under no illusion that the EU will change its attitude to Russia, or abandon Russophobic policies: "The European Union keeps making it clear that it does not - and does not intend to - implement the existing economic, humanitarian and internal security agreements between Russia and EU nations. It doesn’t want to carry out the tasks that were outlined based on the lofty goals of creating a common space from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. All this has been left behind, becoming a thing of the past."

On Azerbaijan’s position on Ukraine

"We appreciate the Azerbaijani leadership’s balanced and responsible attitude to the current developments and its understanding of the circumstances that took years to emerge and led to the current situation not only and not just in Ukraine and around it, but also in the field of European security whose architecture used to be harmonized, but came under consistent attacks by our Western colleagues in recent years."

On Nagorno-Karabakh

The OSCE Minsk Group on resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh issue suspended its activities at the initiative of the US and France and now, the trilateral statements of the Russia, Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders are the foundation of efforts to normalize the situation. "Our European neighbors accept this reality and actively seek to integrate the European Union’s efforts into activities to achieve the remaining goals." Another Azerbaijan-Armenia meeting on border delimitation will take place in Moscow, the dates that "will be convenient for both parties" are being set: "I have seen no signals that the parties have changed their mind or would no longer want to engage in this work." Russian businesses are interested in participating in the reconstruction of Azerbaijan’s territories following the Karabakh conflict: "We confirm that Russian economic operators are interested in joining post-war reconstruction efforts in Azerbaijan’s territories."

On relations between Moscow and Baku

Russia values its partnership with Azerbaijan and expects to boost cooperation "based on the declaration on allied interaction that was signed in February" (during Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Moscow - TASS). "Several dozen industrial and interagency agreements are being prepared" to reinforce it. The two countries agreed "to take stock of all the existing agreements" that include 200 documents adopted in the past 30 years. Russia and Azerbaijan also agreed to thoroughly work on the project of the North-South transport corridor that will partially pass through Azerbaijan.

NATO doing everything to prevent talks with Kiev - legislator

Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs Leonid Slutsky noted that Kiev perceives the military support "as an absolution"

MOSCOW, June 25. /TASS/. NATO, while supporting the resolution of the Ukrainian conflict via talks, is doing everything to disrupt them, LDPR leader and chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs Leonid Slutsky said.

"NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the situation in Ukraine should be resolved via talks. Yet to strengthen Kiev’s positions it is necessary to continue flooding Ukraine with weapons and increase sanctions against Russia. NATO supports the talks yet is doing everything for them not to happen!" he wrote on his Telegram channel on Saturday.

The lawmaker noted that Kiev perceives the military support "as an absolution." "Western arms are used to kill civilians and commit war crimes," he wrote.

"As for the sanctions of the collective West, Mr. Stoltenberg, they cannot weaken Russia’s position in any way. They are becoming stronger every day," he added.