MOSCOW, February 14. /TASS/. The countries that launched sanctions against Russia have resigned themselves to the fact that their plots to isolate Russia have failed, but "the potential for animosity" is still there, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the State Duma.

"In the context of the expanding mutual understanding with the countries of the Global East and the Global South about how the future will look, it appears natural that the plots of the Western minority to isolate Russia, to create some sort of a cordon sanitaire around us, failed," the top Russian diplomat said.

"The instigators of anti-Russian initiatives themselves are forced to acknowledge this, although it is clear that they are far from exhausting the potential for animosity and will continue to ramp up pressure on us and on our allies, using not only the Kiev regime for this purpose but also the wide arsenal of hybrid war instruments in the economy, finance, information space, culture, sports, we are seeing all of this on a daily basis," Lavrov noted.

In this context, the Russian foreign minister noted that it is important for Russia to have a clear understanding of the intentions of those who want to do the country harm and "challenges related to these intentions." "Relying on the foreign policy concept, we will continue implementing the sovereign foreign policy course which is proving its viability, above all, in what concerns the effective protection of national interests and the promotion of genuinely mutually beneficial international cooperation in various formats," Lavrov concluded.