Lavrov Says No Serious Proposals on Strategic Stability Dialogue From US

RIO DE JANEIRO (Sputnik) - The United States has not made any serious proposals regarding the dialogue on strategic stability to Russia, and Moscow is ready for such talks with Washington, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday.

“There were no serious proposals from the Americans, there was an approach that said: ‘Well, you stopped the operation of the Strategic Offensive Reduction Treaty, we believe that this is wrong, so let’s resume inspections, we want to come to you and see how things are and in what condition the strategic facilities are maintained,’ but it does not work that way,” Lavrov told reporters.

Russia remains ready for strategic stability talks with US, but it needs to include all points without exceptions, Lavrov added.

Speaking about the contacts with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken or UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron during the G20 ministerial meeting in Brazil, the Russian foreign minister tell journalists he did not held any.

"No, I did not seek these contacts. They apparently followed their agreement to avoid communication with our delegation in every possible way," Lavrov told reporters.

At the same time, Lavrov said he will hold a meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, as Brazil has solved all the issues related to fueling of the Russian delegation's plane.

“The thing is that here in Brazil there are practically no companies that refuel aircraft that are not owned by Western corporations. But I want to note the actions of the Brazilian hosts, who did everything to solve this issue. Such a meeting [with Lula] will take place today," Lavrov told journalists, when commenting on reports that the minister’s flight to a meeting with the president of Brazil was under a question due to the lack of guarantees for fuel from a local distributor.

On New Sanctions

Russia will respond to new sanctions of the United Kingdom with actions aimed at developing its own economy, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

Earlier in the day, the UK government announced that it had added six members of the Novatek board of directors to the updated list of sanctions against Russia. The new sanctions also target ammunition manufacturers, electronics companies, diamond and oil trading firms, among others, the statement read.

"We will respond with action. And with action that concerns the development of our own economy. Development and strengthening of ties with partners who, unlike the Western minority, which continues to think in colonial and neo-colonial categories, are capable of reaching agreements," Lavrov told reporters when asked how Russia will respond to new sanctions.

On Navalny Death

The West has no rights to intervene in Russia’s internal affairs, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday when commenting on the West’s reaction to the death of Alexey Navalny.

"This hysteria over Navalny’s death decisively showed this, I don’t even want to comment in detail, these people have no right to interfere in our internal affairs especially since they themselves have such their own issues with [WikiLeaks founder] Julian Assange, with [US journalist] Gonzalo Lira, who died from torture in a Ukrainian prison, and neither the Americans nor any other Western figure has even commented on this in any way," Lavrov told reporters.