Lavrov: Europe Building Security Not With Russia, But Against It

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that the EU is trying to create a security system against Russia, not with it.

In his brief on European security issues, the foreign minister stressed that the old format of relations between Russia and the West is gone. Lavrov added he is not sure it is possible to restore cooperation between Russia and the EU on the European security issue, but Moscow is ready to hear what the Western countries have to say.

"If our Western colleagues understand their mistakes and express readiness to return to the discussion of the documents that we have proposed in December, I think it will be a positive factor. Although I doubt that they will have the strength and will to do it, but if it happens, then of course we will be ready to return to the discussion," Lavrov said.

Lavrov recounted the words of NATO's first Secretary General, Lord Hastings Lionel Ismay, who described the core policy of the alliance regarding Europe as "keep the Soviet Union out, the Americans in, and the Germans down".

A US soldier takes part in an exercise called "Saber Junction" at the military area in Hohenfels near Regensburg, southern Germany

“What is happening now means that NATO is returning to those conceptual priorities that were developed 73 years ago. Nothing has changed: they want to keep the Russians outside of Europe, the Americans have already enslaved all of Europe, and not only the Germans, but the entire European Union. So, the philosophy of dominance and unilateral advantages did not disappear anywhere after the end of the Cold War," he said.

Decaying Organizations

The diplomat also elaborated on the sad state of European intergovernmental organizations, noting that Western policies had crippled the Council of Europe beyond repair, while the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe also suffers from multiple problems.

He noted that Sweden, which presided over the OSCE last year, had abandoned a balanced stance, and had facilitated the subjugation of the organization by Washington and Brussels.

"Of course, the OSCE special monitoring mission in Ukraine contributed to the discrediting of the OSCE's work in Ukraine, which, in gross violation of its mandate, did not respond to the daily violations of the Minsk agreements by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The OSCE mission essentially sided with the Kiev regime," Lavrov stressed, noting that that after the closure of the mission it was revealed that its officials cooperated with Western special services.

In the meantime, Poland, which has presided over it in 2022, is "digging a grave" for the OSCE, undermining any consensus that is left in there, he said.

"I can responsibly say that Poland's anti-presidency in the OSCE will occupy a most unattractive place in the history of this organization. No one has ever done such damage to the OSCE at its helm," Lavrov told reporters.

An International observer of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) stands next to a destroyed car after shelling during an inspection tour near the village of Shirokino

The security space in Europe is fragmenting, and the OSCE itself is becoming a marginalized entity, the diplomat added.

Earlier in the day, the annual conference of the 29th OSCE Ministerial Council started in the Polish city of Lodz. Warsaw did not allow Lavrov to take part in the meeting, as it believes that it is necessary to "absolutely isolate" Russia in the international arena amid its military operation in Ukraine, according to senior Polish diplomat Pawel Jablonski.