MOSCOW, October 20. /TASS/. Russia is prepared to restore ties with those countries that are really ready to do so, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"We always say that we are ready to restore relations with those who are acting in good faith," he said at a meeting with university graduates who have recently joined the diplomatic service.

He recalled that shortly after the beginning of the special military operation, Russian President Vladimir Putin provided a comprehensive analysis of the international agenda. "He said that we are always ready to resume relations. Of all the European Union’s partners, it was with us that they had the most extensive and advanced mechanisms for cooperation."

"We will not act like German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said that they would never restore the Nord Stream pipelines. This caused their electricity prices to rise three to four times, but they have to die for Ukraine. We will not be such idiots," Lavrov stressed.

According to the top Russian diplomat, Russia is ready to "restore relations but only in those spheres that are of interest and really useful for us." "This means that the current generation of Russian leaders has learned from the lessons of their own rule and from how the West has behaved toward us. Therefore, we should have no illusions," he noted.

"Politics is not only a delicate, but also a dirty matter. Still, when interacting with our colleagues, we try not to ‘put on gloves.’ But after such interactions, first, we prepare thoroughly for them, and second, we ‘wash our hands’ very thoroughly," he added.