NUCLEAR POWER IN BELARUS AND WORLDWIDE
MINSK, 17 May (BelTA) – Western countries are trying to put Russia's closest allies and strategic partners in a very uncomfortable position for their ties with Moscow, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the Tsargrad TV channel that was posted on the website of the foreign ministry.
Sergey Lavrov noted that there is substantial evidence showing that the West “is putting Russia's closest allies and strategic partners in a very uncomfortable position (to put it mildly)”.
According to Sergey Lavrov, this puts the allies of the Russian Federation in a dilemma: they have close economic ties with Russia, the EAEU and the CIS, but at the same time, the West has come to play a bigger role in the economies of Central Asia and the Caucasus.
“The West consistently and cynically demands that they should not take steps that would run contrary to its interests, promising them everything under the sun. What it means in reality is interference in internal affairs,” the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized.
He added that he does not see a deep crisis in integration processes in the post-Soviet space, while some occasional frictions between members are natural.
At the same time, Sergey Lavrov believes that the EAEU brings appreciable benefits to the former USSR nations, like growth in trade. According to him, the agreements on labor migration in the EAEU and the CIS also stand the partners in really good stead.
“These integration processes are rapidly developing,” the foreign minister concluded.
