MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th October, 2020) The United States and a number of EU countries have been stepping up efforts to prevent Russia from developing further by imposing new sanctions, without providing any factual evidence to explain the anti-Russia sanctions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the Croatian Vecernji List daily.
"Unfortunately, we have to admit that recently Washington and a number of EU capitals have been redoubling their efforts to curb the development of Russia, seeking to punish us for an independent foreign policy, for consistently upholding national interests. To justify their actions, the introduction of new anti-Russian sanctions, they are throwing in various accusations and insinuations, including those mentioned [accusations of interference in US elections and the situation with Navalny]. At the same time, no one has provided any facts or evidence," Lavrov said.
The Russian foreign minister added that all accusations against Russia are being made on the level of "highly likely," often with fabricated evidence presented as the basis for anti-Russia claims.
Lavrov recalled Berlin's refusal to respond to numerous requests from the Russian Prosecutor General's Office in the so-called Navalny case, in direct violation of Germany's obligations under the 1959 European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters.
"Instead of respecting this international legal document, the representatives of Germany and France initiated yet another batch of illegitimate EU sanctions against Russian citizens. All this sadly and clearly illustrates the inability of the European Union to adequately assess what is happening in the world, its desire to put itself outside the law," Lavrov told Vecernji List.
He stressed that Moscow will not leave the anti-Russia actions of its western colleagues without a response.
Lavrov also said that Russia's proposals to organize professional dialogue with its western colleagues have been left without a response.
"We have to conclude that there is no reason to count on a mutually respectful consideration of emerging problems, since the West has made it a rule to talk with Russia from the position of the presumption of its guilt in everything," the Russian foreign minister said.
