Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s answers to questions from Rossiyskaya Gazeta were published by the Foreign Ministry’s website.
Among a number of issues, the Minister noted that “Russia sees Greater Europe and United Europe as a common space between the Atlantic Ocean and the Ural region, just as Charles de Gaulle predicted. It is already possible to talk about a common Eurasian space between Lisbon and Jakarta in the context of current integration processes in Eurasia and in the context of establishing the Eurasian Economic Union and its contacts with ASEAN and the SCO.”
Speaking about the European Union’s unity, he noted that “the organization has a small but very aggressive group of countries that induce everyone to confront Russia and to continue sanctions. Many representatives of EU member countries are telling off the record that they oppose sanctions, and that sanctions are harmful. But they abide by the solidarity and consensus principle.”