Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov criticizes Europe's arms increases, rejects intention to go to war with the EU

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with journalists at the UN headquarters in New York within the scope of the 81st UN General Assembly.

Reminding that Russian President Vladimir Putin himself stated that Russia has no intention of going to war with Europe, Lavrov said, "We have no intention of going to war with Europe. This is complete nonsense. However, Europe is preparing to fight with us and reconfirms this every day. Europeans say they must be ready for war by 2030 at the latest." he said.

Pointing out that such an approach could turn into a self-fulfilling "prophecy", Lavrov argued that Europe was investing large amounts of money in weapons production.

"At a certain point, one of the adventurous people comes along and says, 'We have accumulated so many weapons, what are we going to do with them now?'" Lavrov said. can say. 'Yes, we promised to attack Russia.' In such a scenario, they attack us. "We have no intention of attacking them." he said.

Russia-Ukraine negotiations

Pointing out that there is no lack of trust on the part of Moscow in the context of Russia-Ukraine negotiations, Lavrov said, "We continued bilateral negotiations in Istanbul and trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi, including the USA. All these rounds of talks were not ultimately ended by us. They were ended by those who now claim that Russia is avoiding contacts and has nothing to say." made his assessment.

Arguing that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is "under the full control of the West", Lavrov said: "When we look at Europe's contribution to the solution of the Ukrainian crisis, it is completely impossible to reach an agreement with these people." he said.

Relations with the USA

Lavrov stated that Russia has a regular dialogue in various formats with the administration of US President Donald Trump and that this is essentially a normal situation.

Russian Foreign Minister said, "In parallel with the talks (between Russia and the USA), which I would describe as 'very friendly', (the USA) is pursuing a determined policy of excluding Russia from the global economy." made his assessment.

Underlining the need to "eliminate the Ukraine issue", Lavrov said that this issue constitutes an obstacle to a new era based on mutual benefit between Russia and the USA.

Lavrov pointed out that they will always continue the dialogue with countries such as the USA, and on the other hand, stated that the USA continues to impose sanctions on Russia.

Noting that the national interests of the USA are quite "self-oriented", Lavrov continued his words as follows:

"Let's be clear and put it this way. In today's world, even for a superpower like the United States, it is not possible to solve all global problems alone and in its own favor at the expense of the interests of other countries. I am sure that life will teach our US partners to start thinking in terms of multipolarity and to accept the fact that they are not the only economic, military and generally the only power in the world, the only independent actor in the international arena."

Negotiations with Iran

Lavrov stated that Washington's rejection of the 7-day plan proposed by Iran was "not the first example of such behavior."

Referring to the Islamabad Memorandum, Lavrov reminded that the memorandum was signed at the highest level and that it was a fair and honest agreement.

Lavrov noted that the Islamabad Consensus should be returned to.

UNSC decision regarding Gaza

Stating that the failure to fully implement resolution 2803, adopted by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) regarding Gaza, is not "newsworthy", Lavrov said, "Failure to implement a Security Council resolution is not news. Unfortunately, this is the situation, and behind the non-compliance every time is its own secret agenda advanced by the West." he said.

Recalling that Russia and China abstained from voting on the resolution in question, Lavrov said, "There was a very simple reason for this: We met with the US drafters and said that it seemed strange that there was no reference to the UN in the resolution on Palestine. It seemed strange to us that the UN Security Council adopted a text that did not mention the role that this organization has played in dealing with the Palestine issue for decades." he said.

Transfer of S-400s

Answering questions about the transfer of S-400 systems in Türkiye to another country, Lavrov said, "We will evaluate all kinds of offers. I will not comment at the moment, but yes, there are possibilities for this." he said.

Pointing out that Russia's approval is required for the transfer, Lavrov said, "The country to which the systems will be sent must act responsibly and have friendly relations with the Russian Federation. Thus, we can be sure that these systems will not be sent anywhere else from that country. This is of critical importance." he said.

Stating that there are many examples around the world where Europeans purchased weapons from countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Arab world and signed assurances that these weapons would not be transferred to other places, Lavrov said that it was later seen that they transferred these weapons to Ukraine.

Lavrov noted that assurances should be given that such violations will not occur.

New constitution process in Syria

In response to a question about what role Russia would play regarding the constitutional rights of the Kurds in Syria, Lavrov said: "Whenever they had some kind of crisis, for example, when (US President) Donald Trump announced during his first term that the US would withdraw from northeastern Syria, the 'Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)' (dissolved on August 25) immediately turned to us and asked for help to get involved in these processes. Then the US turned back and the 'SDF's interest in us decreased." made his assessment.

Underlining that the SDF voluntarily agreed to sign the agreement with the Syrian government, Lavrov said, "I have not heard anything about the Kurdish language being banned (in Syria). Such a situation is not the case. This is not like the situation of the Ukrainian regime, which truly implements nationalist and Nazi ideologies." he said.