MOSCOW, February 10. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has briefed British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Moscow’s approaches to future work on issues related to security guarantees, as Lavrov himself said at a press conference following his talks with Truss.
According to the Russian top diplomat, when discussing the Ukraine issue, Truss touched upon Moscow’s initiatives aimed at ensuring security in Europe, which had been put forward in late 2021. "We explained our approaches to future work, primarily with the United States, and expressed interest in eventually receiving a specific reaction from the West rather than runarounds, we need a specific reaction to our request to explain how our Western colleagues interpret related obligations, which were approved at the highest level within the OSCE and particularly say that it is unacceptable to ensure someone’s security by weakening the security of others," Lavrov pointed out.
The Russian foreign minister noted that President Vladimir Putin had clarified Moscow’s approaches to the issue at a press conference following his talks with French President Emmanuel Macron. "He reaffirmed our confidence that NATO’s expansion would run counter to the obligations that the leaders of all OSCE countries had approved at the Istanbul and Astana summits and called for a joint search for mutually acceptable approaches to ensuring the security of Ukraine, European countries, and, of course, Russia," Lavrov added.
"I can’t say that we are about to reach any common ground but I hope that today’s talks will help our British colleagues better understand the importance that these issues have for Russia," Lavrov stressed. He also said that he hoped to discuss bilateral interaction within the UN Security Council during a working lunch. "Russia and the United Kingdom are permanent members of this main body of the United Nations. We bear a special responsibility to take measures to ensure global security and stability. I hope that when discussing international issues, we will pay more attention to the goals that allow us to pool efforts in a constructive manner instead of searching for issues that are being artificially hyped up to dominate our dialogue to the detriment of the goals that we need to achieve to ensure peace and stability on the planet," the Russian top diplomat concluded.