MOSCOW, December 18. /TASS/. The West is still pursuing the goal of finishing off Russia and doesn’t plan to lay down arms, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Channel One television.
"The West still has this goal in place. Occasionally, in Freudian slips, both European and US politicians let it crop up in their speech that they reject the idea of laying down arms, and are intent on carrying on with efforts to finish off Russia," he said in an interview with the Big Game program.
"There are a million arguments in favor of this course, including the relative non-competitiveness of our economy, the West's advantage in the ability to build up military production capacity - this comes straight from the devil," the minister said.
Lavrov said the West still regards Russia as an adversary and a threat.
"President [of Russia Vladimir Putin] covered this issues in great detail, saying that they wanted to destroy Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union, citing the naivety, gullibility of our political class at the time, when the West seemed to extend its hand and talked about eternal common human values, about a common space from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, where everyone would be happy, equal and safe," he continued.
"It seems to me that the events that took place in Moscow - the United Russia congress, Putin's meeting with leaders of the Duma factions, and his speech at the rally on Sunday - they put the dots over all i’s," the minister said.
"For many years we believed, trusted, were gullible, and more than once it was proven to us, by the way, that the West is dodgy. But each time, perhaps, according to the tradition of our people, we always hoped for the best. We forgave some things, we forgot some others, we decided to not make a scandal of still other things, but now, I think, all the i’s have been dotted.".