SUDAK /Crimea/, August 12./TASS/. Russia does not set itself the task to please those who could help it economically in return for giving up on its national interests, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the participants in the Tavrida art cluster.

According to him, certain opposition forces are trying to prove that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia should have followed the path of Japan and Germany after WWII. "That is, to resign itself to the control of the victor, to unquestioningly follow the advice of the winners in the Cold War. This would then ensure the same economic miracle as in Japan and Germany," Lavrov said.

"I hope there is no need here to explain how unacceptable this approach is. We cannot put first the task to please those who can really help us economically," the top diplomat stressed.

"No one has ever said anywhere that we should seek the development of our country at the cost of our own national humiliation," Lavrov stressed. "The dignity of our people is Russia's multinational culture, this is where its strength lies. The fact that the notion ‘unity in variety’ is ensured in our life in practice, ensured much richer than on a dollar bill, is also our major achievement," Lavrov added.