Russian Foreign Sergey Lavrov said he would like to bring back the 2007 atmosphere in relations between Russia and the EU. He made his remark commenting on Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva’s tie, as the minister erroneously put on a tie in the colors of Portugal’s 2007 EU Presidency instead of the 2021 one.
“I am honestly glad that Mr. Minister mixed up, or maybe consciously put on the 2007 tie. It would be very nice to return to the atmosphere that existed between the Russian Federation and the European Union in 2007,” Lavrov said during the joint press conference.
The Russian minister noted that Russia has not yet had a chance to preside over the EU, and such symbols are not used in the CIS and the CSTO.
“Somehow, we haven’t come up with the idea to make special ties, but we will try it,” Lavrov noted.
Commenting on Portugal’s upcoming EU presidency, Lavrov urged to remember about other basic human rights beside the political ones.
“I would like to call not to forget about all the other rights, cemented in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and, of course, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. And, above all, I would like to emphasize the right that has not yet been discussed today yet – the right for life,” he added.
Lavrov expressed his hope that the Western partners will not leave this matter without attention.
“I very much hope that your Western colleagues will remember that this is the most important thing for a human, whomever they are, wherever they live, and that we will no longer allow the repeat of the tragedies that happened in Iraq, in Libya, and in the former Yugoslavia, when our NATO colleagues simply trampled this right in the most brutal and illegal way,” Lavrov concluded.
“Russia wants normal relations”
Russia is ready for normalizing relations with the European Union, but without ultimatums and unilateral preconditions like those put forward regarding the Minsk Agreements, Russian Foreign Minister said.
“We are ready to restore normal relations based only on the principles of equality, mutual respect and a balance of interests. Without any ultimatums or unilateral preconditions like those we are constantly being faced with regarding the necessity for Russia to fulfill the Minsk Agreements. It’s absurd and everybody understands that,” he noted.
Still, although everyone understands the absurdity of this situation, the EU sticks to the principle of consensus and solidarity that works within its framework, Lavrov continued.
“By exploiting this principle, the aggressive Russophobic minority forces everyone else to stick to this absurd situation every time this issue is discussed in the European Council,” the top diplomat said.
“We want normal, mutually beneficial relations. We want the trade volume to return to the 2013 level and exceed it. It is currently half as big as it was in 2013. And it was not the pandemic that played the decisive role here. We hope that the ideological-based agenda towards Russia in the EU will transform into a reasonable one,” Lavrov underscored.
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