MOSCOW, November 17. /TASS/. The restoration of mutually respectful and good-neighborly dialogue between Russia and Germany meets the interests of the European region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a video address to the organizers of and participants in the Potsdam Meetings forum.
"We are confident that the restoration of mutually respectful, good-neighborly dialogue between Moscow and Berlin would contribute to the improvement of the situation in Europe. We are sincerely interested in that. We proceed from the assumption that we can and should overcome the period of tensions in our bilateral relations," he said.
Lavrov noted that relations between Russia and the European Union continued to degrade in recent years. "It is not our fault," he stressed. "Unfortunately, our EU counterparts, in a bid to secure unilateral advantages at the expense of others, have made a very short-sighted choice in favor of the ‘master-slave’ logic, in favor of archaic ‘zero sum’ geopolitical games, in favor of creating new dividing lines."
According to Russia’s top diplomat, the EU’s actions include support for an unconstitutional coup in Ukraine, unilateral sanctions against Russia and the destruction of the entire multi-level system of dialogue between Russia and the EU. "As a result, our common continent faced a large-scale crisis of trust, and European businesses, including German, are suffering substantial losses. Subsequently, the large-scale potential of Russian-German ties remains untapped," he went on to say.
Lavrov noted that Berlin was pursuing the policy of containing Russia. "Endless accusations, ultimatums and threats against us are becoming a routine tool in Germany’s foreign policy. The current tensions cost dearly to the peoples of Europe, whose security has become hostage to the selfish political approaches imposed from across the pond. At the same time, we are confident that the possibility to shape an architecture of peace and equal and indivisible Eurasian and Euro-Atlantic security has been preserved," he stressed.
Russia’s top diplomat noted that Russia and Europe were facing such common challenges and threats as terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the coronavirus pandemic, which require joint efforts. "It is only possible to deal with these threats effectively by pooling efforts on the generally recognized international legal basis. We see the rejection of the philosophy of hegemony and dominance, the ‘cordon sanitaire’ and ‘iron curtains’ as the guarantee of success along this difficult path. For its part, Russia is always ready for an honest equal work and search for a balance of interests," he concluded.