- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

Lavrov: Biden’s Remark Proves EU Role in Promoting Western Agenda

© Sputnik / Sergey Guneev / Go to the mediabankJoe Biden
Joe Biden - Sputnik International
Subscribe
US Vice-President Joe Biden’s remark on how Washington was able to make European countries “take economic hits to impose cost” on Russia proves the EU's role in promoting a Western agenda in Ukraine, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday.

MOSCOW, October 6 (RIA Novosti) — US Vice-President Joe Biden’s remark on how Washington was able to make European countries “take economic hits to impose cost” on Russia proves the EU's role in promoting a Western agenda in Ukraine, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday.

Sergei Lavrov was commenting on Joe Biden’s controversial speech at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government last week, where the US official acknowledged the EU “did not want to do that. But again, it was America’s leadership and the President of the United States insisting.” He also accused several Arab countries of funding Islamic State insurgency and was later forced to backtrack.

“Thus, Joe Biden has effectively confirmed the view that was first formulated in a telephone conversation between [US Assistant Secretary of State] Victoria Nuland and the US ambassador in Kiev [Geoffrey] Pyatt, when they discussed EU’s role in the efforts to promote Western interests in Ukraine,” Lavrov said.

A recording of the phone call made headlines in February, not least due to the notoriously strong language Nuland used to comment on the EU’s reluctance to pick a fight with Moscow.

The senior Russian diplomat said Moscow considered these incidents to be “deplorable,” since "both the fight against terrorism and Ukrainian settlement require a dialogue based on mutual respect and a balance of the interests of all the parties concerned.”

Lavrov concluded by saying that Russia would be open for “cooperation with our foreign partners,” if all interests were taken into account.

Over the past few months, the United States has introduced several rounds of economic sanctions against Russia, blaming Moscow for meddling in Ukraine’s internal affairs — claims that Russia has repeatedly denied. The EU and US allies have followed in Washington’s footsteps, drawing up their own blacklists.

In August Moscow responded to Western sanctions, implementing a one-year ban on certain food imports from the European Union, the United States, Australia, Canada and Norway.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала