MOSCOW, February 11. /TASS/. Russia is monitoring the signals European countries have been sending since the US policy course changed, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the State Duma during a "government hour."
"Of course, we have been monitoring and commenting on those signals that the Western camp, primarily Europe, has been sending to us - and president [Vladimir Putin of Russia] does so, too - especially after the Trump administration made a break with the practice of their predecessors in the Biden administration to isolate Russia in the international arena," he explained.
According to Russia’s top diplomat, European countries have come to their senses and are now trying to send Russia signals. "Europe has woken up and is trying to send signals, and [French President Emmanuel] Macron mentioned this himself. Recently, even a notorious Russophobe, the Finnish president, Mr. [Alexander] Stubb, said that Europe 'will talk to Russia someday, but that time has not come yet’," Lavrov recalled.
"What kind of statements are these? Did he do us a favor or something? This is yet another manifestation of his ego and another attempt to present himself as a tough guy to his voters, colleagues, and so on," the foreign minister said.
Lavrov criticized statements from European leaders saying they are willing to call Putin as empty talk. "[German Chancellor Friedrich] Merz has said that he should do so [contact Russia] one day. You see, this is empty talk," he said. Never has a world leader been denied the opportunity to talk with the Russian head of state, who held conversations with European leaders at the initial stages of the special military operation at their request, Lavrov stressed.
Meanwhile, Europe has completely discredited itself in Russia’s eyes, he continued. "All mechanisms for cooperation that we have developed between us and the European Union <…> were discarded as soon as the special military operation was launched, and Europe chose to side with the Nazi regime," Lavrov concluded.