Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s replies to questions from Russian media, Beijing, February 4, 2020

Question: Did you discuss Russian-US relations? What is China’s position?

Sergey Lavrov: Without exaggeration, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping had a detailed discussion covering the entire range of bilateral and international relations. The leaders reaffirmed the line they determined several years ago towards the steady development of strategic partnership in all areas: the economy, energy, humanitarian and cultural ties, military and military-technical cooperation. Once again, bilateral relations were described as “the best in the entire history of ties between Russia and China.”  The President of the PRC emphasised that they even surpassed allied relations in some areas.

As for international issues, the primary focus was the tensions that the West has been deliberately escalating around Russia and China. The President of Russia described once again our position at the talks with the United States and NATO on the need to work out clear security guarantees in Europe. The PRC President reaffirmed support for Russia’s stand on this problem. He emphasised that it reflected the fair aspirations of the Russian state and people.

We agreed to closely coordinate our actions in the international arena, including countering the attempts to erode the UN (the foundation of universal international law) and to establish hobby clubs that will only create more dividing lines in international affairs. We are consistently opposing this and are upholding the system of international relations sealed in the goals and principles of the UN Charter.

Question: The whole world is closely following these talks. Should we expect any surprises regarding agreements between Russia and China? Will they be followed by something that will perplex the West?

Sergey Lavrov: It is not for me to guess what might perplex our Western colleagues in current conditions… They do things for a reason or for no reason (mostly for no reason) or for reasons that they themselves invent. I read statements on the internet by the US Department of State to the effect that Russia is preparing fake videos allegedly depicting an attack against Donbass by the Ukrainian military. The lunacy of such allegations (and there are more and more of them every day) is obvious to any more or less experienced political scientist.