During a session of the World Youth Festival, Foreign Minister Lavrov emphasized that Moscow is always willing to engage in dialogue, especially when it is offered sincerely and on a basis of equality
"We have no negative feelings towards the American people, I have a great deal of very good associates in the United States," the Russian top diplomat noted. "We are always open to dialogue if it is offered seriously and on equal terms," he added.
Speaking about the bombshell leak of the conversation between the German top generals, Lavrov told festival participants that it is surprising that Germany is not concerned about discussions about a possible attack on the Crimean Bridge, but about the fact of the conversation of its senior military was leaked.
The tape of an audio recording of a conversation between high-ranking German military officers on security topics concerning Russia and Ukraine was published on Friday. Later, the German-based news agency, DPA, revealed that the tape was authentic. On Saturday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that a thorough, intensive and swift investigation was underway over the leaked conversation.
"The reaction of German politicians is interesting, some of whom are concerned that there has been a leak in the networks ensuring the security of negotiations. That is, the very fact of the preparation of German weapons, the German specialists who service these weapons, attacks on Russia, including the Crimean Bridge, including warehouses with ammunition, how they discuss among themselves, it does not come as a surprise ... This says a lot," Lavrov said.
When touching upon how EU embassies in Moscow were getting set for the upcoming presidential elections in Russia, the top diplomat mentioned that Moscow had gathered extensive evidence of them participating in unauthorized activities.
"Having collected such information, we invited all the ambassadors of the European Union, probably a week and a half ago, to a meeting with me, at which I simply ... wanted to tell the ambassadors and heads of diplomatic missions that we advise, with the best intentions, not to do this," Lavrov said, adding that "two days before the scheduled event, before the meeting, they sent us a note saying, 'We decided not to come.'"
The World Youth Festival is running from March 1-7 by order of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Sputnik is an official media partner of the event.