Lavrov talks Russia-NATO relations, arms control and dialogue with US: Key takeaways from the foreign minister’s speech — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union

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Moscow has no intention of attacking the US-led military bloc and is prepared to give official guarantees to that effect, the top diplomat has said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has outlined Moscow's vision of relations with an increasingly belligerent NATO, US President Donald Trump's administration, and the security architecture in Eurasia.

Lavrov touched on these and other topics at an international security conference in Minsk, Belarus on Tuesday. Here are the key takeaways from his address:

Russia-NATO relations

Moscow "has repeatedly said that we have had no intention of attacking any of the current NATO and European Union member states," Lavrov stressed. He added that Russia is prepared to give official guarantees to this effect as part of a future security architecture in Eurasia.

According to the foreign minister, EU leaders are studiously avoiding these discussions, aiming instead for "security guarantees against Russia, as opposed to with Russia."

Lavrov claimed that the West is openly preparing for a "new big European war" against Russia and key ally Belarus. He said there is ongoing militarization across most European NATO member states.

"NATO's expansion has not stopped for a single minute, despite assurances not to move eastward by an inch given to Soviet leaders," he said, accusing the West of seeking to preserve its "global dominance" despite the dawn of a new era.

The Western military bloc is attempting to establish a foothold as far afield as the Asia-Pacific, with a view to containing China, North Korea, and Russia, Lavrov stated.

Russia-US dialogue

Russia needs "guarantees" that a potential summit between President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, "will yield a concrete result," the foreign minister explained.

Tentative discussions on a meeting in Budapest, Hungary began after the two presidents spoke by phone earlier this month. Last week, Trump clarified there are no plans for talks in the near future, as he wants to make sure it would not be "wasted time" in terms of resolving the Ukraine conflict. On Sunday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov similarly said that both Moscow and Washington have to do a substantial amount of "preparatory work before top-level negotiations can take place."

Moscow hopes that the US president "really wants a stable peace," Lavrov said. He expressed incredulity at the apparent change in Trump's rhetoric in recent days, as the US president called for an immediate ceasefire along the current front lines. Moscow has rejected this scenario, insisting that the root causes of the Ukraine conflict should be addressed first. 

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