Current diplomatic contacts have shown that Washington and its allies lack “common sense,” the Russian foreign minister said
Moscow is always willing to engage in diplomacy but has no patience for threats, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters in South Africa on Thursday.
During a press conference after the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, Lavrov was asked what needs to happen for Western countries to change their policy and move away from confrontation.
“We see no glimmers of common sense,” when talking to Western diplomats, Lavrov replied, adding that their approach amounts to “you must, you need to.”
“We are always open to discussions, but we are not going to answer calls for discussions, which involves boorish ultimatums, extortion, and threats against us,” the Russian foreign minister said. He argued that the West has abandoned meaningful negotiations in favor of belligerent attitudes.
The Westerners themselves say that they must ‘defeat’ Russia on the battlefield and ‘inflict a strategic defeat’ on us. That’s what they have now, instead of common sense. In that case, we shall work not in the field of international law or diplomacy, but on the battlefield.
The minister accused Western countries, including many in the EU, of acting as “obedient agents of Washington” on the world stage, to the detriment of their own citizens and economies.
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