ST. PETERSBURG, September 25. /TASS/. Western countries are more frequently allowing themselves to openly flaunt the core aspects of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations by hindering the routine operations of Russian consular outposts, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in written greetings to participants in an international conference on contemporary trends in consular operations under new geopolitical conditions.

The top diplomat’s message of greetings was read out by Vladimir Zapevalov, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Representative Office in St. Petersburg.

"Unfortunately, the time-tested normative base of consular relations nowadays is being intensively eroded. Western countries more often are allowing themselves to arbitrarily interpret or even openly ignore the founding elements of the convention, the indivisible part of modern international law. This concerns, among others, ensuring the inviolability of consular premises, the right of consular officials to visit the nationals of their country in custody, or preventing discrimination along ethnic lines," the top Russian diplomat noted. "The West’s destructive policy obstructs the full-fledged implementation of one of the most important consular functions - the protection of compatriots’ interests in the receiving state," he added.

Lavrov stressed that the Russian side acts based on the premise that the provisions of the Vienna Convention "should be fully implemented" under current international conditions as well.