RUSSIALINK: “Moscow ready for joint work with Washington on international stability issues, not looking for confrontation – Lavrov” – Interfax
PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY. April 1 (Interfax) – Russia is not looking for confrontation with the United States, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
“We’re not looking for any sort of confrontation. President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin has said on multiple occasions, including after the regretful interview given by [U.S. President] Joe Biden to the ABC television channel, that we are prepared to work with the United States to the benefit of the people of the two countries and international security,” Lavrov said in an interview with the Bolshaya Igra program aired on Channel One.
As he was commenting on the U.S. policy involving harsh, confrontational rhetoric aimed at altering Russia’s position, Lavrov said, “My opinion on these events ranges from ‘exercises in meaninglessness’ to ‘playing a very dangerous game with matches’.”
“The policy you have mentioned, which is being pursued in the forms we are currently observing, has no chance of succeeding,” Lavrov said.
This kind of U.S. policy aimed to impose sanctions on Russia and employ harsher rhetoric and pressure “on all fronts” is not “something new,” Lavrov said. “This has been going on for years. The sanctions began with the Barack Obama administration or, historically speaking, even earlier. Same as many other restrictions, they simply evolved into a hypertrophied and ideologized form since 2013, i.e., before Ukraine,” he said.
“You must be aware of the current fashion to describe everything with lifelike images. All of us used to play in the backyard as kids. So, kids of various ages and upbringing ran outside (everyone was living next door, together), and every backyard had its own two or three bullies, who abused, penalized, forced to clean their boots and robbed everyone (they took away the pennies mothers gave for buying some pies, breakfast). Two, three or four years later, the younger kids grew up and stood up for themselves. In our case, we do not even need to grow up,” Lavrov said.