Lavrov on Riyadh negotiations: Normalization of relations with Washington is moving in all directions
Afrasianet - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov presented his country's vision for a number of current foreign policy issues in a speech to the State Duma a day after Riyadh negotiated with US officials including Foreign Minister Marco Rubio.
In his speech on Wednesday, the Russian minister focused on what he described as growing tensions in the world due to the West's "desire for hegemony."
On the Riyadh negotiations, Lavrov said that the US side stressed that "differences in the interests of countries should not lead to a slide towards confrontation," noting that the move towards normalizing relations with Washington is proceeding in "all directions."
He added that US President Donald Trump is "the first and only Western leader so far to have said publicly and loudly that one of the root causes of the situation in Ukraine was the brazen line of the previous administration dragging Ukraine into NATO."
He stressed that his country does not run after European countries to normalize with them, because Moscow - according to him - has done nothing to freeze or destroy relations with these countries.
Ukraine and Syria
Regarding the war with Ukraine, Lavrov stressed that Russia is ready for a political and diplomatic settlement on the basis of taking into account the facts "on the ground."
He explained that the Russian delegation stressed to the US side in Riyadh the need to limit the regime's moves in Kiev aimed at destroying everything related to Russian culture.
On Syria, the Russian minister revealed high-level meetings between representatives of the two countries scheduled for next week.
According to Lavrov, the main issue for Syria is "to prevent a repetition of the Libyan scenario, when, as a result of NATO aggression, Libya lost its sovereignty, was divided and could not unite itself for 15 years now."
Syria has problems related to the illegal presence of the United States on its territory and the policies pursued by the administration of former President Joe Biden, especially with regard to the establishment of a "quasi-Kurdish state."
Letters to Europeans
According to political analyst Oleg Bondarenko, Lavrov's speech carries with it the features of a new phase of international relations, but its activation will depend largely on the level of progress in the talks with Washington and their results.
Bondarenko said overcoming the obstacle of divergences in positions on the Ukraine crisis would likely pave the way for the resolution of other outstanding problems related to the issue, such as sanctions and frozen Russian assets.
He adds that there are indirect messages to Western leaders carried by Lavrov's speech, that Moscow and Washington have launched the process of restoring diplomatic and economic channels, and that Europe should move positively and show more balanced positions towards Russia.
The political analyst explained that the dispute between Moscow and Washington over the Syrian file declined after the change of the regime there, which reduces the size of the problematic files pending between them, as he put it.
For his part, Dmitry Zlatopolsky, a researcher in international studies, said that Lavrov's comparison between the current and previous US administrations is a clever diplomatic game aimed at announcing the existence of common ground between the Kremlin and the White House.
On U.S.-European relations, Zlatopoulsky said the West is now divided over Ukraine. The next phase may witness a crisis between Brussels and Washington, which will only be solved by changing the elites and leaders in the European Union, he said.
Decisions on the future security system will only be made by Russia and the United States, because only they can ensure security in the world, regardless of whether the EU participates or not.