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Russia, Belarus call against division lines in Europe — Lavrov

According to the foreign minister, Russia and Belarus share concerns on the issues of European security as NATO countries "try to whip up confrontation and advance military infrastructure eastward"
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (front)  Valery Sharifulin/TASS
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (front)
© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

MOSCOW, May 16. /TASS/. Moscow and Minsk do not favor confrontation and call against building division lines in Europe, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after talks with Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei in Minsk on Monday.

"We share concerns on the issues of European security as our colleagues from NATO countries try to whip up confrontation and advance military infrastructure eastward close to our borders," Lavrov said.

"Both Russia and Belarus do not back the confrontation line," Russia’s top diplomat stressed, adding that Europe should approve the principles of equal and indivisible security for all.

"We discussed the general security situation in Europe. We have common interest in our relations with NATO and the European Union to see Europe free from division lines," Lavrov said when asked whether his talks with the Belarusian top diplomat touched upon the problem of the deployment of the US missile shield. "These efforts are failing as long as our Western partners are acting from roundly biased positions."

"But our constructive commitment to finding a way out of this dead end is still in place," the Russian top diplomat underscored. "It is important that those who have created artificial problems in the common European process remove these problems from the agenda."