Russia Will Not Sign Security Agreements with EU, Says Lavrov

YEKATERINBURG, September 16. /TASS/. Russia does not intend to enter into any contracts or agreements with the EU on issues of its national security, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the International Youth Festival.

"In areas that affect the security of the state, we will not and do not intend to conclude any contracts or agreements with Europeans," he said.

The foreign minister pointed out that it was Europe that severed relations with Russia, rather than the other way around.

"We are now fully provided with markets and partners, and despite the hybrid war against Russia, everything is going as acceptably and positively as possible given all the circumstances," Lavrov stressed. "When and if any European country wants to resume a serious dialogue, we will first listen to what they have in mind and what they can offer, and then we will decide whether it suits us or not. But there will be no more returns to the embrace that took place at the end of the Soviet Union and in the 1990s."

The International Youth Festival is being held in Yekaterinburg from September 11 to 17 under the slogan "Follow Your Dream." The festival is expected to be attended by 10,000 young leaders from 191 countries: 5,000 from Russia and 5,000 from other countries. The program will include 1,000 teenagers aged 14 to 17.