This handout photograph taken and released by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Feb 10, 2022 shows Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaking during a joint press conference with British Foreign Secretary following their talks in Moscow. (HANDOUT / RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY / AFP)
MOSCOW – Russia remains open to cooperation with Western countries, but will not initiate an improvement in the relations with them, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday.
"Let's see how they will get out of the impasse they have driven themselves into. Their values, the principles of the free market, the inviolability of private property, and the presumption of innocence are all trampled on by themselves," he said.
According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the United States is sending diplomats to many countries to ask them to withdraw from cooperation with Russia
According to Lavrov, the United States is sending diplomats to many countries to ask them to withdraw from cooperation with Russia.
"It looks like our American colleagues have lost the feeling of reality or are swelling with the super-superiority complex," he said.
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Also on Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed "the unacceptable nature of the military-biological activities of the United States in Ukraine" in a phone conversation with Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, the Kremlin said in a statement.
Such activities pose a huge danger to both Russia and the whole Europe, Putin said.
The two leaders discussed Russia's military operation in Ukraine, and Putin noted the missile attacks by the Ukrainian security forces on cities in Donbass, said the statement.
Bettel said that "we must put an end to" the conflict, and "no one stands to gain from these clashes; not Russia, not Europe and certainly not Ukraine," according to a statement on the official website of the Luxembourg government.
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Bettel briefed Putin on contacts with leaders of Ukraine and other countries, and Putin outlined his assessments of the Russian-Ukrainian peace talks, the statement added.
The Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday asked Washington to provide all information on the activities of US-linked biological laboratories in Ukraine.
Last week, US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland testified before a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Ukraine, admitting "Ukraine has biological research facilities."
