Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today that the agreement on the sale of Russia's majority stake in the Serbian oil company NIS to the Hungarian oil company MOL would not have been reached if it were not in Russia's interests, TASS reported, BTA reported.
„If the agreement on NIS was unprofitable for the Russian Federation, it would not have been concluded. This is completely obvious to everyone. We are open to cooperation with everyone“, Lavrov said, adding that Russia is ready to cooperate with the Americans on this issue.
The Russian foreign minister also touched on the position of the European Union regarding Serbia, Serbian media reported.
“I will remind you that the European Union, to which Serbia has been striving so persistently for many years, once stated that when the EU is involved in something, others have no business there. Therefore, in a broader sense, when I talk about Serbia, I would not only talk about how Russia and the US can cooperate or influence the Balkans, but also about how the EU treats Serbia“, Lavrov said.
He also said that Serbia should rethink its relations with the EU, because “ it has been said many times that Serbia's future is in the EU, and the EU has responded with the words – we'll see“.
“First, recognize Kosovo, that is, you have to humble yourself, and second, fully join all EU foreign policy actions, including sanctions against the Russian Federation“, Lavrov said, asking the question “whether this is decent on the part of Brussels“ regarding Serbia.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that European leaders, including NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, are “seriously preparing for war against Russia“.
“If you read the statements of European politicians and leaders - including Kaia Kallas, Ursula von der Leyen, Friedrich Merz, Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Mark Rutte - they are seriously preparing for war against the Russian Federation and they do not hide it“, Lavrov said.
Lavrov stressed that Moscow was ready to continue diplomatic efforts to resolve the Ukrainian crisis, but assessed that Western countries, especially Russia's European neighbors, had done everything possible to thwart agreements.
“The United States is the only Western country ready to deal with the causes of the Ukrainian conflict“, Lavrov said, adding that Russia did not claims no one's legal rights, but that it will not allow its legal rights to be ignored.
Speaking of Greenland, Lavrov said it was difficult to imagine that discussions about the island would call into question the survival of NATO.
“Crisis trends are developing within Western society itself. Greenland is a vivid example that everyone is talking about and around which discussions are being held that would have been difficult to imagine before, including the prospects for the further existence of NATO as a single Western military-political bloc,“ Lavrov pointed out.
The Russian minister added that Moscow would do business with partners around the world on the principle of equality and mutual benefit, while Western countries could choose to act “from a position of strength“.
Lavrov confirmed that Russia had received the charter of the “Peace Council“ in Gaza and praised the “pragmatic approach” of the administration of US President Donald Trump in taking into account the interests of other countries.