Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's remarks and answers to media questions at a joint news conference with Foreign Minister of Brazil Carlos Franca following talks in the 2 + 2 format, Moscow, February 16, 2022
16 February 2022 15:14
261-16-02-2022
Ladies and gentlemen,
We have concluded the talks between the foreign ministers and defence ministers of the Russian Federation and Brazil in the 2+2 format. This is the first time we have used this format together, which was under the decision of President Vladimir Putin and President Jair Bolsonaro.
We proceed from the fact that our relations with Brazil are intrinsically valuable. In recent years, they have developed progressively and cover virtually all areas of interstate cooperation, and are gaining momentum in such spheres as trade, economy and investment, as well as military and military-technical cooperation, humanitarian, cultural and education exchange, and foreign policy coordination.
Today we have exchanged opinions on all these areas. This meeting is especially important because it is taking place just a couple of hours ahead of the talks between the presidents of Russia and Brazil at the Kremlin.
We have talked about our cooperation at the United Nations. Brazil is currently a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. We reaffirm that Russia confirms its support for Brazil's candidacy for a seat in the Security Council as a permanent member in the context of expanding this body by giving additional seats to the developing countries of Asia and Africa.
We cooperate closely in diverse areas at the UN including strengthening international security, settling regional conflicts, ensuring security in space activities, and preventing the deployment of weapons in space. We also cooperate on promoting the Chemical Weapons Convention without attempts to undermine its key provisions.
Non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction was another important topic in our dialogue. We agreed to coordinate our approaches in preparations for the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
Russia and Brazil share an approach in favour of the earliest possible enactment of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.
We also exchanged views on current geopolitical trends, including developments in the Asia-Pacific region, in the Euro-Atlantic region and in eastern Eurasia.
We shared with our Brazilian friends a detailed assessments of the United States' policy of substituting international law with some "rules-based order." This policy implies and is already putting in practice an attempt to split the world into "democracies" and "non-democracies," the former enjoying a privileged position, and the latter who need to be restrained. In Europe, this policy is manifested in a so-called open-door policy, which, in violation of all legal norms and political obligations, has led to NATO's reckless eastward expansion, creating a direct threat to Russia's national security. We have substantively informed the other party of the steps that we are taking on President Vladimir Putin's instruction in our dialogue with the United States and NATO.
We are interested in a regular exchange of information, assessments of what is happening in our respective regions, in Latin America and around Russia. This demonstrates the special trusting nature of our relations.
The representatives of the respective Ministries of Defence who were participating in our meeting exchanged detailed assessments of military and military-technical cooperation and the prospects for its expansion. We agreed to continue discussing these matters in the follow-up expert consultations.
Question: What specific proposals from the West, received in response to the Russian initiative on key security issues, does Moscow consider acceptable?
Sergey Lavrov: I already talked about this at yesterday's news conference. They are not really proposals from the West. They are Russia's proposals that the West has received from us over the past two or three years, and has consistently rejected. Now that we have upped the ante on the security issues in Europe, the West has had to accept it and then present responses as its own initiatives. After the United States threw out the INF Treaty, President of Russia Vladimir Putin suggested, in messages to Western leaders, imposing a bilateral moratorium on developing and deploying land-based missiles of this class. There was no reply. This proposal was simply ignored. At about the same time, the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces presented a package of initiatives for consideration by the North Atlantic Alliance, including measures that would make exercises safer and more predictable, and that would reduce security risks during combat aircraft flights and warship maneuvers. We have repeatedly proposed restoring ties between Russia's military and NATO. The North Atlantic Alliance discontinued ties unilaterally like most other forms of cooperation, in 2014. The West made these points in its response and expressed a willingness to hold what it called a serious dialogue on these issues. We consider this a positive step. We will be ready for such a dialogue but not at the expense of clearing up the principled issues of our position, which concern the need to stop NATO's reckless eastward expansion and searching for other ways to ensure security in the Euro-Atlantic countries. President of Russia Vladimir Putin talked about this in detail in his recent news conferences.
Question: What can you tell us about the continuing hysteria over Russia's alleged invasion of Ukraine? The US Department of State has given new deadlines. Why did US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ask you for a meeting recently? What did he want to talk about if the US wants some new "evidence" and it has not changed its position?
Sergey Lavrov: We reported on the content of yesterday's telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. I cannot add anything to that.
As for this continuing hysteria, I cannot say we find it amusing, but we are truly perplexed. No matter what we do on our territory, the West considers it its right to lecture us on how to behave. This is simply a lack of good manners.
This can be seen in the recent calls to "check on what Russia is doing there." It's as if we announced an end to the exercises but they "don't believe us." Supposedly, they will have an opportunity to verify it with satellites and other information from their intelligence agencies. There is no end to the threats: "We dare you to invade Ukraine; we will promptly announce sanctions the likes of which the world has never seen." Yesterday, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen spoke with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. After this conversation, it was announced that London and the EU would act together to "punish" Russia when they deem it necessary.
Britain is ready to act as the initiator, both with and without an excuse. A few days ago they approved a supplement to the Regulations they adopted in 2019 to announce sanctions against Russia as "punishment" for our actions on the Ukrainian problem. This "supplement" has nothing to do with Ukraine. It gives the British authorities the right to impose sanctions on any organisation, individual or legal entity that is linked with the Russian state, are of significant economic importance to our authorities or conduct activities as individuals or legal entities in industries that are strategically vital to the Russian Government (transport, the chemical industry and many other sectors). To make it clearer and more succinct: now the British authorities can impose sanctions on any individual or company just because they belong to Russia or are Russian citizens or organisations. This is unprecedented in history. If these regulations (still subject to certain procedures) finally enter into force, I have no doubt that our parliament will have every reason (it will be necessary) to adopt similar laws as regards those who are trying to build a career, increase public ratings or become more popular through Russophobic declarations.
We know how much London is used to playing its favourite role as provocateur in relations between Russia and the West. I hope other Western countries are more responsible than this, that they will see this as another attempt to trigger a new wave in the sanctions war and will not support it. I must emphasise that in any event, the Russian Government and our Parliament will not remain indifferent to what the West is trying to do.
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