MOSCOW, May 3. /TASS/. Moscow will form an opinion on Washington’s willingness to build constructive relations only by Washington’s practical steps, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Italy’s Panorama magazine.
"We have said on numerous occasions that we see remarks by President Donald Trump about the desire to establish normal dialogue between our two countries in a positive light," he noted. "Moreover, we fully share this approach and are prepared to travel our part of the path to break the artificial impasse in bilateral ties the Obama administration steered them into."
Lavrov stressed, however, that Moscow "will judge whether its partners are interested in constructive cooperation based on mutual respect by practical steps only."
Meanwhile, "the situation in bilateral relations continues to deteriorate," Russia’s top diplomat noted. "If there are some positive signals from the US president, they are fully levelled off by rampant Russophobia in the US establishment, where our country is presented is a threat. They speak out in favor of Russia’s ‘systemic containment’ using sanctions and other pressure tools," the minister added. "Of course, all that stems from internal political feuds in Washington and has nothing to do with reality."
Lavrov drew attention to the fact that interaction on important global issues "has stalled, while many in Washington continue to plunge into ‘self-replicating’ Russophobia." "This has an adverse effect on the global situation, where too many issues, which cannot be resolved without cooperation between Russia and the US, have accumulated," he noted.
Russia’s top diplomat was hopeful that "common sense will eventually prevail in Washington’s corridors of power." "We would like to establish normal, predictable, even, if you like, friendly relations with the US, but not at the cost of trading principles and Russia’s national interests," he stressed.
Global relations have become strained because of the actions carried out by the US and its allies, he said.
"It is clear that the global situation is escalating and becoming less predictable, unfortunately," he said. "We repeatedly noted that this state of affairs was chiefly caused by ongoing unilateral actions by the US and some Western states influenced by it."
The foreign minister added that it causes situations "in which a sham or a mistake may have global consequences."
Lavrov pointed out that Russia wants to count on the western countries’ good sense. "But this ‘good sense’ means that the leaders of the collective West will be able to act in a highly responsible and predictable manner and strictly observe international laws based on the UN Charter," he continued. "We’ve doubted this ability of late."
In this situation Russia acts as a highly responsible state that does not use its advantages to the disadvantage of other countries and strives to prevent the international life from sliding down to confrontation, the minister stressed.
"We act as a guarantor of global stability and oppose the Security Council’s decisions aimed at justifying plans of the unilateral use of force against undesirable ‘regimes’ in violation of the Charter of the United Nations," the Russian foreign minister added.