Updated 11:51 p.m. Moscow time.
UNITED NATIONS, September 26 (RIA Novosti) – Moscow has not initiated the current standoff with the United Nations and will not succumb to its sanctions pressure, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday.
"We see no need to initiate steps to improve relations with the United States. We are ready for fair, equal work. They are trying to send signals to us - let's agree on the criteria that you will have to meet, and then we will gradually remove sanctions. This is not a serious approach. I'm even surprised that people engaged in diplomacy can make such proposals," the Russian minister told reporters on the sidelines of the current UN General Assembly session in New York.
Lavrov made comments on recent US President Barack Obama's speech at the United Nations, saying that the American leader’s claims of Russia, posing major global threat, are not supported by international community.
US President Barack Obama in his Wednesday's speech at the United Nations kept accusing Moscow of interference in the Ukrainian crisis and put Russia in the second place on the list of key global threats, with the Islamic State aggression in Syria and Iraq being only third.
Lavrov said that the American leader's claims of Russia posing a major global threat are not supported by the international community.
"He [Obama] said that Ebola, the Russian aggression and the threat of terrorism are the main threats. I do not think that this list reflects the perception of the Russian Federation by the international community," the Russian diplomat said.
The United States has introduced several rounds of sanctions against Russia, accusing Moscow of providing eastern Ukraine militia with military assistance and illegally "annexing" Crimea.
Russia has repeatedly denied the claims and made all possible to ensure the de-escalation of the Ukrainian crisis. Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a peace plan to resolve the conflict two days before Kiev and the eastern regions of Ukraine reached a ceasefire agreement on September 5 in Minsk.
