VLADIVOSTOK: Russia will never chase after Europe and plead for sanctions to be lifted, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during a...
VLADIVOSTOK: Russia will never chase after Europe and plead for sanctions to be lifted, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during a lecture organized by the Znanie (Knowledge) Society on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).
He said that Russia has never constructed walls or isolated itself from Europe, and it was the European Union’s choice to do this.
"It [Europe] decided that our cooperation in previous years was so vital to Russia that we will come running after them, begging: ‘Come on, fine, forgive us, forget what happened, let’s go back, lift the sanctions,’" Lavrov said. "This is not going to happen."
"We have, if you will, our own national pride in the best sense of the word. We have absolutely no need for anyone’s goodwill," he added.
The top Russian diplomat said that Russia "has enough friends and partners who are ready to cooperate in good faith."
"Europe is not ready [to cooperate] in good faith. It simply cannot," he said.
The Eastern Economic Forum is taking place on September 1-4 in Vladivostok on the campus of the Far Eastern Federal University. The main theme of this year’s EEF is "The Far East: Development for the Benefit of People." The event is organized by the Roscongress Foundation with the support of the Russian government. TASS is its general information partner.
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