Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks at talks with UK Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs Elizabeth Truss, Moscow, February 10, 2022

Madam Minister,

Colleagues,

It has been a long time since we held full-scale bilateral talks at the level of the foreign ministers of Russia and the United Kingdom.

The last time I met with Boris Johnson was in December 2017, almost five years ago, when he held the post of Foreign Secretary,.

Our meeting today is unprecedented because tomorrow our defence ministers will meet in Moscow as well.

I have read Boris Johnson’s statement to the House of Commons, in which he said about relations with Russia that they should be improved. Following that, the Prime Minister’s Office announced that you and your colleague the Defence Secretary would travel to Russia to improve our relations.

At least this is what the announcement said. I don’t know if this is really so.

If this is the goal our British colleagues aspire to, we will definitely reciprocate. We cannot be satisfied with our current relations, which are at the lowest ebb in the past years.

Of course, relations can only be normalised through dialogue based on mutual respect and equality, recognition of each other’s legitimate interests and a search for mutually acceptable solutions.

Ideologically charged approaches, ultimatums, threats and moralising is a road to nowhere. Regrettably, many of our Western colleagues are using this form in their public activities. I do not see this as diplomacy.

You will agree, I am sure, that communication between two international subjects should have added value for both sides. Only in this case will it bring positive results.

The use of this approach immediately produces positive results. A case in point is the continued growth of our trade, economic and investment cooperation, and our cultural and humanitarian ties.

I hope that we will make use of these examples to develop normal interaction in the other spheres of our relations, revive the mechanisms of bilateral cooperation and numerous interagency ties, which have been suspended a long time ago, and not at our initiative.

Of course, our countries, as permanent members of the UN Security Council and allies during the Second World War, following which the current security architecture was created, bear special responsibility for preventing negative trends in international relations, promoting dialogue based on mutual respect and looking for solutions that will serve the interests of all states without exception. This is especially important now for the Euro-Atlantic region. We are ready to discuss the implementation of the Russian initiatives with you.

There are things we need to discuss.