Yesterday, the Russian Foreign Ministry published the transcript of an interview Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov granted to Rossiya Segodnya, the owners of Sputnik and RIA Novosti. There he said that Russia’s commitment to its moratorium on the deployment of intermediate range surface-to-surface missiles, previously prohibited by the INF Treaty, depends on what the U.S. does. “If Washington creates additional missile risks, it will undoubtedly require a serious response from our side,” he said. “If the United States does not take any extraordinary steps to exert pressure through other means, Russia will not be the first to deploy missiles that were previously prohibited under the INF Treaty. However, judging by the preparations made by the Pentagon, practical actions by the Americans to deploy ground-launched intermediate and short-range missiles in different regions of the world should not take long. Therefore, the time when we will have to make necessary political decisions is fast approaching.”
Lavrov also indicated that there’s little prospect for the restoration of good U.S.-Russian relations. “Our readiness to restore a full-fledged dialogue with the United States should not be taken for granted,” he said. “Russia-U.S. relations have become strained to the maximum due to Washington’s strategic objective of inflicting a decisive blow on Russia. Although the White House is still cautious about completely ruining what remains of the relationship, the Americans are clearly not ready to engage in an honest dialogue based on mutual respect and consideration of each other’s interests.
“We will only be able to develop a formula for peaceful coexistence and cooperation in certain areas when Washington acknowledges our core national interests and engages in sincere negotiations,” the diplomat said.
Regarding Palestine, the interviewer asked Lavrov if Russia plans to organize national unity talks among the different Palestinian factions, particularly Fatah and Hamas. “Russia consistently advocates for the initiation of Palestinian-Israeli talks. The lack of Palestinian unity remains one of the obstacles to this,” he said. “We support the actions taken by our partners, particularly Egypt and Algeria, to resolve this issue. We also assist our Palestinian friends in finding a solution.”
Lavrov noted that he spoke with many of his Arab counterparts at the Russian-Arab Cooperation Forum in Marrakech, Morocco on Dec. 20 where “we discussed the situation in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict area and possible steps to resolve it. The discussions revealed that, among other things, we have a common understanding of the urgent need to restore Palestinian unity.”