Lavrov: Reasonable Voices Emerge in Europe Willing to Take Steps Towards Russia

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - European politicians are starting to express opinions in favor of cooperating with Russia, but new whims of the West cannot be ruled out, based on the existing experience, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday.

"Reasonable voices are heard, many politicians publicly say: sanctions are sanctions, but one day we will have to negotiate as we live next to each other and everything that happens is harmful to us. But this has not become mainstream so far and has not captured the minds of the governments that are now functioning in Europe," Lavrov said at the Federal Education Marathon Znanie (Knowledge).

The minister noted that although some big EU countries are starting to think through steps towards Russia, Baltic States, Poland and the Czech Republic, in particular, indulge in deep hatred and Russophobia.

"Probably, such an awareness will come at some point, but now we must concentrate on protecting both our country and relations with friendly states, which is an overwhelming majority, as well as 80% of the world’s population from any current or future whims of the West because we cannot rule out the recurrence of relapses, given the events that we are now witnessing in Europe’s political life with all these currents, trends and aggressiveness," Lavrov added.

At the same time, in the current circumstances, one cannot succumb to negativity and "give up," according to the minister, who does not foresee "any tragic catastrophes."

"Trends in favor of returning to the origins of the UN Charter, to equal and mutually beneficial cooperation prevail in the world. When our Western partners survive their period of obscurantism and want to return to normal, human and equal communication, we must be ready to accept them into the community of normal states on terms that suit everyone," Lavrov said.

The minister specified that Russia will always uphold diplomatic and political approaches to solving any problems and will oppose Western attempts to solve these issues with brute force, threats and blackmail.