MOSCOW, January 17. /TASS/. Statements made by US President-elect Donald Trump and his team members indicate that the new US administration is unlikely to employ double standards on the war on terror, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at his annual news conference.
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According to him, Russia welcomes Trump’s statements in which he said that the war on terror would be one of his priorities as far as foreign policy is concerned. "This is exactly what our US counterparts have been lacking," the Russia top diplomat noted. "They said they were ready to cooperate with us and other countries, they drew some documents, but in fact they deceived us whey they pledged to separate the moderate Syrian opposition from Jabhat al-Nusra (terror group outlawed in Russia)."
"They have been shielding Jabhat al-Nusra militants, sparing them in every possible way," the Russian foreign minister pointed out. "What we have heard from Donald Trump and his team indicates that they have a different approach and are unlikely to employ double standards in order to take advantage of the war on terror to achieve some goals not related to it," the Russian top diplomat said.
'Every country should be responsible for its development'
Moscow has also welcomed Trump's words that every country should independently determine its development.
"Donald Trump wants every country to be responsible for its own development. This resonates with our approach," Lavrov said.
"We want everyone to be independent, to see less sponging in the world and more respect to legitimate interests of every state," the Foreign Minister said.
No link between lifting sanctions and nuclear disarmament
Lavrov sees no link between the cancellation of sanctions against Moscow with nuclear disarmament in the statements made by Trump.
"I cannot and have no right to interpret what Donald Trump said in an interview but I heard in his phrase a kind of another sense than that most observers and commentators think now," Lavrov said.
"He said that he would think about what to do with the sanctions, this is one part of the phrase. The second one said that if we can make some deals with Russia, a way out of this situation should be found," Lavrov said, adding that the third part of the phrase was that Trump seeks further steps in nuclear disarmament.
"I saw no proposal for disarmament in exchange for lifting sanctions," he added.
On Sunday, The Times and Bild newspapers published an interview with Trump where he spoke about the prospects of lifting sanctions against Russia and also about the dialogue on nuclear disarmament with Moscow. Some mass media reports interpreted his words as a proposal to ease sanctions in exchange for a kind of a nuclear deal.
No preparations for Putin-Trump meeting in Reykjavik
Rumors of some preparations for a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President-elect Donald Trump in Reykjavik have nothing to do with the reality, Lavrov said.
"My comments will be the same as those made by both Washington and Moscow so far. The rumors are not true. There have been no contacts for discussing such plans," he said.
Earlier, Russian presidential story Dmitry Peskov, too, dismissed media rumors preparations for a meeting of Russian and US leaders were underway.
"For now there have been no agreements, plans or preparations for such a meeting, because the Russian president and Mr. Trump have not discussed that yet," he said.