"The first step was taken when the AUKUS bloc was being created - the US, the UK and Australia - a project to build nuclear-powered submarines. The topic is very risky and requires constant full control by the IAEA, for which the AUKUS members are not quite ready, but we are also trying to ensure that the Atomic Energy Agency uses its powers to the fullest extent, so that there is full transparency. But, so far, we have not been very successful in doing so," he said at the press conference.
"When the United States withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, it began producing land-based missiles that are prohibited by this treaty, and information has already been circulating about their plans to deploy such missiles in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. I hope that ASEAN countries are well aware of the danger that Washington's plan poses," he emphasized.
"As for the format, the Chinese position is very clearly formulated in their documents - there can be talks about preparing for a conference of some kind, some kind of multilateral event only if the parameters and conditions for convening this event are acceptable to all parties. And only if all available initiatives are put on the agenda. This is a direct refusal to work based only on [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky's peace formula, which is a dead-end, utopian, illusory and will never materialize," he said.
"Unfortunately, the West is trying to hold back political processes, trying to put the Myanmar leadership under more and more sanctions, while at the same time financing and arming the radical opposition. This is certainly not helping the cause," Lavrov told reporters.