Russia not to return to former relations with US, EU, NATO - Lavrov

MOSCOW, September 1. /TASS/. Russia’s Western partners have frequently violated their obligations in the sphere of security, therefore business as usual with the EU, US and NATO is now impossible, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the MGIMO University students on Thursday. "Political commitments (on European security) have been grossly violated and continue to be violated, and our proposals to translate these commitments from political declarations into the category of legally binding ones have been rejected outright", he said. The Russian foreign minister said that the West has long tried to keep Russia in the position of a ‘disciple’ in international relations. "Our proposals encountered the selfishness of the political elites of a number of states, which sought to get geo-strategic advantages at the expense of other countries, flagrantly violating the solemn declarations that were adopted in the 1990s both at the summit level and within the OSCE, as well as within the framework of relations between Russia and NATO, that said that security is indivisible and that no country would strengthen its security at the expense of others", the minister said. "I hope that our partners remember this. But if they have forgotten, we will, of course, remind them, because we’ll not be able now to conduct business as usual either with the US or EU, let alone NATO," Lavrov said. Read more