Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced on Wednesday that his country is refocusing its economic and foreign policy on Asia as a result of Moscow’s antagonism with the West, which “continues to harbor hopes that it can destroy Russia on the battlefield” in the Ukraine conflict. , for the solution of which he stated that Russia is ready to negotiate if its “absolutely legitimate demands” are met, EFE and Agerpres write.

“We are transferring people (diplomats, officials) from the western line to the eastern line, to the Asian line,” Lavrov said during an international forum in the Russian capital, adding that a meeting of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be held by the end of the year. year and economic development to consider this issue in detail.

In addition to relations with Asia, relations with Latin America, Africa and, of course, with the post-Soviet space remain a priority for Moscow, the head of Russian diplomacy emphasized.

Following the sanctions imposed against Russia after the start of a “special military operation” in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin decided that Western countries were no longer reliable partners and demanded closer relations with countries on other continents.

Russian and Chinese Prime Ministers Mikhail Mishustin and Li Keqiang on Monday called for an increase in bilateral trade to reach $200 billion a year, up from an estimated $150 billion this year.

Russia is also paying particular attention to India, a country criticized by Ukraine this week for continuing to import Russian oil.

What Lavrov says about the peace talks

Regarding the settlement of the conflict provoked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Lavrov said that Russia is ready to enter into negotiations if it is presented with a “serious proposal” that takes into account its “absolutely legitimate demands”, without specifying whether this meant . this expression refers to four Ukrainian regions – Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – which Russia annexed on paper and only partially controls.

The Russian minister also noted in this context that Moscow has never lacked “good will”, recalling that last December it sent its requests to the West for security guarantees, and in March held talks with Kyiv in Istanbul, discussions which were then suspended. Russia explains the interruption of peace talks with American pressure on Ukrainian leaders.

But for now, the West “continues to cherish the hope that it will be able to destroy Russia on the battlefield,” Lavrov said. “Some talk to our face, others don’t,” he added.

He also noted that some Western leaders, such as French President Emmanuel Macron, have recently been talking about the need for talks, but nothing has materialized.

In an interview during his state visit to the United States last week, Macron suggested that Russia receive security guarantees in future talks to end the war in Ukraine, something Kyiv strongly denies.

The subject of these security guarantees was raised by Moscow late last year, a request that was then, until Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, the subject of intense and ultimately failed diplomatic negotiations, a request Washington deemed unacceptable.

Russia specifically demanded the withdrawal of NATO’s military infrastructure into position by 1997, that is, before the Alliance’s eastward expansion, and a promise that there would be no further expansion of NATO to the former Soviet states, especially Ukraine. .

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