Lavrov touches West’s cooperation with Russia’s allies

Moscow will not keep its attitude to the West’s attempts to undermine its relations with its allies a secret, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.

 

“If we are really talking about equal, mutually beneficial, transparent cooperation based on international law, no one should have any worries,” he told a news conference after talks with his visiting Kazakh counterpart, Murat Nurtleu.

 

“If instead of cooperating on the principles I have just mentioned, Western countries try to indulge in threats, blackmail, seeking to compel our allies to undermine relations with Russia to the detriment of their own national interests, naturally, we will not conceal our attitude to such attempts. And our Kazakh friends, other partners within the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization – TASS), the EAEU (Eurasian Economic Union – TASS), and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization understand perfectly well what I am talking about,” he said when asked about Moscow’s attitude toward cooperation between its Eurasian partners and the West.

 

According to the Russian minister, Moscow wants all the Eurasian multilateral structures and countries to be part of the broader integration process mentioned in Russia’s new foreign policy concept.

 

“At least, the door should be open to all such organizations and all such countries. The process is underway. As for the Eurasian Economic Union, it has already established ties with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Such ties exist between the SCO and the CIS, between the SCO and ASEAN. So, such a network of cross contacts and ties is already being formed and I am convinced that these processes will help transform these contacts into practical, material benefits for all participants in these processes,” Lavrov stressed.