MOSCOW, July 13. /TASS/. Moscow has not seen the European Union ease its policy of confrontation after the Geneva-hosted Putin-Biden summit, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview with the International Affairs magazine.
"In short, no," he replied to the relevant question. "Frankly speaking, I don’t think that it is possible to speak of someone getting permission [from the US] to change things for the better, or for the worse, for that matter, because the number of those who seek to make a turn for the worse in Europe today is not as few as one would like," he pointed out.
"The more statements that are made on behalf of the North Atlantic Council, the less desire there is on our part to take it seriously," Ryabkov stressed. "NATO often times ignores common sense, coming up with approaches that have proven to be bankrupt in the past and don’t have any impact today. Nevertheless, this machine, this grinder organ keeps turning, playing the same melody over and over, but it sounds scratchy because the mechanical piano has long since broken," he added.
According to Ryabkov, the collective West does not view Moscow as an equal partner. "The US definitely has one of the leading roles, even a defining one," the Russian deputy foreign minister noted. "We will work in various directions with our partners who are ready for that and play on numerous boards," he insisted.
"I think that the US’ European allies are largely bound by the documents that have recently been adopted at NATO’s level and their own documents passed at the EU-US summit, which are proliferating in number at an incredible pace in the EU, where a triad has taken place of duality. You know, like a three-headed dragon… Once they learn to speak respectfully as equals, then we will discuss the prospects for improving relations, first and foremost, in terms of dialogue," the Russian deputy foreign minister emphasized.