(Moscow) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Russia “sees no sense” in maintaining the same diplomatic presence in the West, announcing that Moscow will now focus on Asia and Africa.
Posted yesterday at 12:43 PM.
“There is no sense and no desire, of course, to maintain the same presence in Western countries,” Mr. Lavrov said during a meeting with young graduates recently appointed by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Sergei Lavrov stresses that Russian diplomats work there “in inhumane conditions, we constantly create problems for them by constantly making threats.”
“But the most important thing is that there is no business there since Europe decided to close us down and suspend all economic cooperation” with Moscow, he added.
” What to do? We cannot force others to love us,” added the head of Russian diplomacy.
He stressed that “the third world countries, in Asia and Africa, on the contrary, need more attention,” noting that Russia has many projects there, especially commercial ones, which require diplomatic accompaniment.
“Under these conditions, we will, of course, place the center of gravity in those countries that are ready to work on equal terms and cooperate with us on the basis of mutual benefit,” Lavrov concluded.
Several Western countries such as the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Austria have expelled Russian diplomats en masse since the start of the Russian offensive on Ukraine on February 24.
In some cases, these expulsions have been linked to accusations of espionage.
Moscow has promised to respond to each of these actions, and dozens of Western diplomats have already been expelled from Russia.
