All news

West unlikely to return to discussion of Russian security guarantee proposals — Lavrov

The top diplomat stressed that having rejected Moscow's proposals, NATO countries undertook "a number of moves which are wholly at odds with the possibility of restarting a dialogue"

MOSCOW, December 1. /TASS/. Western countries are extremely unlikely to find the strength and wisdom to return to discussions on Russia's proposals on security guarantees, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a press conference on European security issues on Thursday.

"If our Western interlocutors realize their mistakes and express their willingness to return to discussing the documents we proposed in December, I think this will be a positive development," Lavrov said. "I doubt that they will find the strength and reason to do this. However if this happens, we will certainly be ready to talk to them again," he added.

With this in mind, the top diplomat stressed that having rejected Moscow's proposals, NATO countries undertook "a number of moves which are wholly at odds with the possibility of restarting a dialogue."

"I mean that they once again vowed at the meeting of foreign ministers in Romania that Ukraine would be in NATO, that there was no change in this respect, but first Ukraine must win the war," Lavrov explained. "The irresponsibility of such statements is obvious to anyone with the slightest knowledge of politics. Moreover, we were ready to discuss security issues in the context of Ukraine and more broadly even after the special military operation had started," he stressed.