VOLGOGRAD, August 30. /TASS/. Western nations have demonstrated their unreliability as partners in bilateral cooperation and their ability to break the norms of international law in the interests of their "geopolitical gains," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.

"We have no illusions," he said. "Western colleagues have proved their unreliability and their readiness to blatantly break international law, violate prerogatives of the United Nations Security Council, which is the only body that has the right to impose these or those measures of economic coercion in the interests of the geopolitical benefits they are seeking to attain."

"Following a wave of restrictions in 2014," the Russian side has arrived at the conclusions that "we can only rely on our own forces, both in strategic areas and in the defense sector, and in strategic areas of civilian development of the economy," Lavrov stressed. "We will stay open for mutually beneficial cooperation, for investment cooperation, but will always have our own resources in store."