Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held his annual large press conference on 16 January, having addressed the results of Russian diplomacy in 2018 and touched upon, among other issues, relations with the United States, the European Union, NATO as well as the Syrian crisis, nuclear arms reduction, and the much-hyped Trump-Putin Helsinki summit.
During the press-conference that lasted over 2 hours, the Russian foreign minister responded to dozens of questions on a wide range of issues:
Relations With US, Europe, NATO
The foreign minister stated that Russia wanted to restore relations with the United States and the European Union “based on equality and mutual accommodation”, but would respond to NATO's military activity near Russia's borders.
Moscow has on a multitude of occasions voiced concern over the transatlantic alliance's activities close to the country's borders, emphasising that they jeopardised the nation's security and violated the NATO-Russia Founding Act, which prohibited the deployment of significant fighting forces on the territories of new member states.
When asked to comment on the Brexit deal that was vetoed down on 15 January, Lavrov said that Russia is not rubbing its hands with glee over the UK's withdrawal from the European Union, and it would like the bloc to be strong and united.
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The foreign minister also underscored that…
