Kremlin: Russia Finalising Its New Foreign Policy Concept in Line With Changes in Int’l Situation

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has told Sputnik that Russia’s foreign policy concept will be finalised in line with the current global developments.

"Our foreign policy documents, of course, are undergoing changes. You know that just a week earlier, at the operational meeting of the permanent members of the Security Council, the main outlines of our new foreign policy concept were being considered. And [now] it will be finalised as we take into account what is happening [in the world]. In this regard, the situation is not static, and it develops dialectically on our part", he underlined.

Touching upon disarmament-related issues, Peskov admitted that “everything is not very good”, adding that Russia should brace for “many years of difficult positional confrontations in the course of negotiations, the effectiveness of which raised a question mark”.

“In terms of conceptual issues for us, the Americans ignore our concerns, I mean the questions raised by [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin about security guarantees”, the Kremlin spokesman pointed out.

He said that even though the situation is complicated in this regard, “as reasonable people, we prepare for the worst, but still hope for the best”.

“We expect that these scarce channels for dialogue will nevertheless allow us to find some kind of reciprocity among our opponents and a desire to find solutions, which […] will really mean that our interests are taken into consideration”, Peskov stressed.

Separately, he focused on European states’ “consistent and very energetic” attempts “to strengthen the direction of foreign policy and security in their integration processes”, something that Peskov said the EU fails to successfully resolve, not least due to Washington’s influence.

According to the Kremlin spokesman, the US has “never experienced a lack of perseverance and even a cowboy approach in trying to influence its partners in Europe” and telling them what to do.

“We are well aware of all this, which, of course, runs counter to the desire of Europeans to become more sovereign in their foreign policy interests. Let's hope, however, that common sense will prevail here, and that the Europeans will first of all think about our common home, Europe, where we live side by side and are immediate neighbours”, Peskov emphasised.

He also signalled Russia’s interest in developing trade and economic as well as investment and security cooperation both with Moscow’s European partners and the US.

“But love cannot be forced, so Russia will, of course, look for opportunities to expand cooperation where it sees reciprocity”, the Kremlin spokesman said.

Western 'Hysteria' About Russian 'Invasion' of Ukraine

Peskov’s remarks come amid growing tensions over Western allegations about Russia’s purported plans to invade Ukraine, which have been rejected by Moscow as unfounded and absurd. Last week, Western media speculated that an alleged Russian "invasion" of Ukraine could take place on 15 February or a day after, with the news outlet Politico reporting that US President Joe Biden had told his allies that Russia may invade Ukraine on 16 February.

Addressing the unsubstantiated claims, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov warned Washington against fuelling “hysteria" about Moscow’s “imminent invasion” of Ukraine. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, for his part, underlined that the "propaganda campaign" about "Russian aggression" against Ukraine has provocative purposes, and encourages "the authorities in Kiev to sabotage the Minsk [peace] agreements and pernicious attempts to resolve the 'Donbass problems' by force".

The statement was preceded by Russia's First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy tweeting about the continuation of "madness and scaremongering” after Western media outlets, including The Washington Post and The New York Times, cited unnamed US officials as claiming that Moscow’s “invasion” of Ukraine may cause 50,000 civilian deaths in the country.