MINSK, 31 May (BelTA) - Western countries demonstrate disdain for the universal principles of international law and continue to blatantly interfere in the internal affairs of Russia and its strategic partners, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a conference on Russia-EU relations, TASS has learned.
"In general, we see outright meddling in the internal affairs of Russia and its allies. Apparently, this is how the rules-based order, which the West wants to increasingly rely on while deviating from the universal norms of international law, should look like," Sergey Lavrov pointed out.
Russia's top diplomat noted "the West continues to stick to the ‘highly likely' mentality in all situations" today. "Currently, they are hatching the unilateral illegitimate sanctions against our country that are arbitrarily applied at the discretion of the EU. They are brushing a fact-based dialogue aside in favor of groundless accusations in the ‘highly likely' spirit, while replacing the presumption of innocence by the presumption of guilt simply by default," the diplomat elaborated.
"Just recently, our British colleague claimed that what happened in Belarus [the Ryanair incident - TASS] could not have happened unbeknownst to Moscow," he added.
Moscow won't turn a blind eye to the new inimical moves that are being cobbled together in Brussels, Sergey Lavrov said. The Russian top diplomat emphasized that Russia is ready for honest interaction with the European Union on an equal footing. "This does not mean that we will turn a blind eye to the new unfriendly steps, or the attempts to talk from a position of strength, or the meddling in our internal affairs. Such steps are being prepared. They are talking about this openly. A response will definitely follow," he said.
