PRESS RELEASE
Lavrov Praises Trump’s UN speech
Sept. 20, 2017 (EIRNS)—While the international mainstream media used some parts of Trump’s speech to portray him as a mad war-monger, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he was positively impressed by Trump’s commitment to respect sovereignty of other countries. Quoted by RT, Lavrov said that Trump’s speech was "remarkable," adding that it seems "it was targeted not only for the international audience, but also for the domestic one."
In an interview with Associated Press and TASS, Lavrov said he liked Trump’s UN speech, especially when Trump said "that the U.S. would not impose its way of life on others."
"I think it’s a very welcome statement, which we haven’t heard from an American leader for a very long time," said Lavrov, who pointed to Trump’s statement cited above, and also when Trump said,
"Strong, sovereign nations let diverse countries with different values, different cultures, not just coexist, but work side by side on the basis of mutual respect."
Relations are at "a very difficult and a very low point, which is the legacy of the Obama administration," Lavrov said, but what Trump had said during the election campaign, and what he continues to say now, is that he wants to have good relations with Moscow.
"What I feel, talking to Rex Tillerson, is that this is the position of the administration, that they are not happy with the current state of relations, and we are not happy at all,"
he said.
Lavrov said it would be "quite useful" for Trump and Putin to meet again in November during an Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Da Nang, Vietnam, to review the progress in their bilateral relations. Talks are going on now among lower-ranking officials, he said, including the two countries’ militaries and their security agencies. "The dialogue has been going on, it’s not easy," Lavrov said.
Lavrov also seemed to hint that the "tit-for-tat" series of ousters of diplomats from the two countries’ embassies and missions was over for now.
"We waited very long with our tit in response to Obama’s tit," Lavrov said.
"Being serious people and responsible people, and I feel Rex Tillerson is one of them, I hope that we can draw conclusions from where we are now and understand where we want to be."
He said that both Russia and the United States have to address the situation as it is, which he said was created by "the spiral of unfriendly steps started by the Obama administration," but still work like "responsible people" to address their bilateral ties as well as serious international issues.
Lavrov did not criticize Trump’s threat to "totally destroy" North Korea if the U.S. is forced to defend itself from Pyongyang. He said Trump has spoken in the same vein many times.
"We don’t doubt that the United States has capacity to do something very destructive."
