MOSCOW, May 25. /TASS/. Self-sufficiency and the multi-vector nature are the key principles of the Russian foreign policy, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with Hungarian newspaper Magyar Nemzet.
According to Russia’s top diplomat, the work to renew the Concept of the Russian foreign policy is still underway.
"The renewed text will reflect our evaluation of changes in international affairs over the last three years, including the cold snap in relations with the West, the build-up of integration processes in Eurasia, the deterioration of the situation in the Middle East and in North Africa with the subsequent eruption of terrorism and extremism," Lavrov said.
"However, it is hardly correct about the formation of a new foreign policy doctrine," he said. "The document will reiterate the key principles of the Russian foreign policy, including its self-sufficiency, its multi-vector nature and openness to equal cooperation with everyone expressing mutual interest with the aim of effective settlement of numerous present-day challenges. They [the principles] have been already tested by the time and proved to be effective and in demand."
The Russian foreign ministry said "the world is currently subjected to a difficult and turbulent period of the formation of a new polycentric system of the global order."
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"We see a growing competition on the issue what shape the future international system would assume," he said. "Under such conditions we consistently stand for the necessity of channeling these processes in a civilized direction, for the joint work in search of adequate responses to common challenges, among which today is, first of all, the international terrorism."
"This nature of Russia’s approaches enjoys support from the majority of countries," Lavrov said. "Our country is comprehensively providing for the recovery of the situation and worldwide decrease of conflicts. With this aim we are using the potential of our participation in the UN, G20, EAEU, BRICS, SCO and other multilateral formats."
"I would like to remind that mainly due to Russia’s principal position it was possible to reach agreements on the Iranian nuclear issue, to launch the ‘Vienna Process’ on the political settlement in Syria and come to terms on a number of key international issues," Lavrov added.
Crisis in Russia-EU relations
According to the minister, the European Union's unwillingness to build partnership dialogue has led to a crisis in its relations with Russia.
"First of all, I would like to note that the current crisis in relations with the EU is the result of a persistent reluctance of partners to build dialogue on the basis of true partnership," Lavrov said. "Russia has repeatedly expressed readiness to cooperate with the EU on a broad range of issues - from abolition of short-term visas to rapprochement in the energy sphere."
However, "a short-sighted line towards seizing geopolitical space has prevailed" in Brussels. "The culmination of such a course was a coup d’etat in Ukraine also backed by a number of EU countries."
"When nationalists who seized power in Kiev by force of arms put the country on the brink of split by their irresponsible actions and unleashed a civil war, the Western countries for some reasons started accusing Russia of everything and introduced unilateral restrictions against us."
"It seems that we somehow overestimated the independent role of the Europeans on the global arena," the minister said. "It appears that the Ukrainian crisis highlighted a high degree of the EU dependence on the political and economic influence of Washington. We would like to deal with a strong EU that would build relations with partners on the international arena judging first of all from its own interests and not making solidarity with players outside the region a top priority."
The minister said sanctions against Russia "cause tangible damage to economies of the EU member-states destroying ties between commercial operators that had been created for decades and in general do not contribute to enhancing stability and trust on the European continent and in fact give rise to new division lines in Europe."