New US National Security Strategy Designed to Show Europe Its Place - Lavrov
19:02 GMT 15.12.2025 (Updated: 19:24 GMT 15.12.2025)
© Sputnik / Kirill Zykov
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MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The new US national security strategy, adopted under President Donald Trump, is intended to show Europe its place and ensure it does not try to draw the United States into its machinations to promote a liberal order, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.
"One of its major purposes is to make Europe know its place and to prevent it from imposing its liberal ways that it has been proud of and cooperated with the US democratic administrations in promoting for decades; make it mind its own business and not try to engage the United States in its fairly rogue games intended to promote the liberal way that suits its elite to the political life of all other countries," Lavrov said in an interview with the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting media corporation.
On Europe's approach to the Ukraine conflict
Europe's approach to the conflict in Ukraine resembles a failed doctor who does not understand the illness but instead gives a pill to ease the symptoms for a while, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.
"Europe is like a failed doctor who struggles to diagnose his patients and opts for randomly prescribing pills or mixtures to ease the symptoms, if only for a brief moment. These Europeans doctors have been unwilling to come up with a diagnosis," Lavrov said in an interview with the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting media corporation.
'There Are Reasonable People in US, Europe Who Support Return to Arms Control'
There are still reasonable people in the United States and Europe who advocate for the restoration of the principles of arms limitation and arms control, Lavrov said.
"Today, there are reasonable people, including in the United States and certain countries of Europe, as well as in the structures in which both our countries take part, such as the SCO [the Shanghai Cooperation Organization] – there are people who have been speaking out in favour of reviving the arms limitation and control frameworks, including transparency measures. Iran and Russia have been proactive in backing this approach," Lavrov said in an interview with the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting media corporation.
Starting in 2008, Russia had proposed that its European and US neighbors agree on security principles in Europe, with repeated initiatives made in 2009 and 2021, but these proposals were ignored, the minister added.
"We told the West that encouraging Ukraine to confront the Russian Federation and pumping it full of weapons was setting it on a dangerous path. We suggested agreeing on security principles, and presented a draft treaty for guaranteeing that NATO would not seek further expansion. But the West ignored all this in its arrogance. So here we are," Lavrov also said.
Russia-US Contacts Give Hope Washington Is More Aware of Moscow Stance on Ukraine
Russia's recent contacts with the United States give hope that Washington has become more aware of Moscow's position on the Ukrainian conflict and understands what needs to be done to resolve it reliably and sustainably, Lavrov said.
"The United States is trying to get to the bottom of this issue. The latest contacts with the Americans did inspire some hope that they developed a deeper understanding of our position. They are beginning to understand what needs to be done to achieve a reliable and lasting resolution for this conflict instead of having yet another truce in order to once again pump Ukraine full of weapons. This is work in progress," Lavrov said in an interview with the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting media corporation.
"We are waiting for the United States to share its feedback regarding their contacts with the Ukrainians," the Russian foreign minister added.
Europe, by pumping Kiev with weapons, money, and intelligence, using the hands and bodies of Ukrainians, is once again at war with Russia, Lavrov said.
"And now Europe is waging a war with us once again with Ukrainians under a Nazi flag, using European money, instructors, and all Western intelligence and reconnaissance data while Europe is pumping Ukraine with increasingly more modern weapons."
Militarism is being revived in Germany, and when it happened last time, it was under slogans of National Socialism and conquest of other nations, Lavrov stressed.
Sensible Voices on Russian Assets in Europe Being Tried to Drown Out
Sensible voices in Europe speaking out about the idea of stealing Russian assets are being silenced from Brussels, Lavrov said.
"Although now they started quarrelling whether it is OK to steal Russian money. Some sane voices can be heard from there, but Brussels is attempting to hush them," Lavrov said in an interview with the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting media corporation.
Russia Ready to Assist in Normalizing Situation Around Iran
Russia is ready to provide assistance to normalize the situation around Iran, and the United States is aware of this, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.
"We are ready to provide assistance. I will not go into details. There are specific things there that both our Iranian friends and the Americans are aware of, and they are interested in having US President Donald Trump resolve this conflict," Lavrov said in an interview with the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting media corporation.
"We are working with the Islamic Republic of Iran. We have channels for communicating with the US administration. Europe does not want to communicate with us. They are all with delusions of grandeur. It is their choice. We do not have much to talk about with European leaders of this kind. But we are presenting our approaches to the Americans on how to normalise the current situation around the Islamic Republic of Iran," he added.
Russia, Iran Discuss How Tehran Could Restore Relations With IAEA
"The Russian Federation, including President Vladimir Putin, discussed the current situation with our Iranian friends at various levels. We have had, and still have our own ideas. We shared with our Iranian friends our opinion on how to deal with this situation, how to restore relations with the IAEA and with Western countries and on what terms, if they are interested in this. But the final decision remains, of course, with the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Lavrov said in an interview with the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting media corporation.
The minister recalled the previously released IAEA report, which was "far from neutral and objective."
"It contained subtle ambiguities. [IAEA Director General] Mr Rafael Grossi explained that it was within his mandate... It became the groundwork for introducing an anti-Iran resolution. Ultimately, it was the IAEA reports which served as a pretext for using the snapback mechanism," Lavrov added.
Commenting on the issue of Iran and the Non-Proliferation Treaty, Lavrov said that the Iranian side should remain within the treaty.
"And my last remark is about whether Iran should remain within the Non-Proliferation Treaty. We firmly believe that it should. This topic must not be exploited in the public opinion as a way to criticise the latest developments," the minister added.
