Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the European Union of attempting to drive Russia out of Central Asia, and said the bloc was failing, in an interview broadcast on November 12.
“The European Union isn’t hiding its intentions to restrain [Russia] in every possible way and push it out of Central Asia and the South Caucasus,” Lavrov said in Pavel Zarubin’s program “Moskva, Kreml, Putin” (Moscow, Kremlin, Putin).
“These attempts are futile. We have been historically present there and are not going to disappear,” top Russian diplomat said noting that “Russia has been historically present in this region and is not going to disappear anywhere.”
Lavrov was giving an interview on the sidelines of a visit to Kazakhstan last week, during which Russian President Vladimir Putin met his Kazakh counterpart Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
The Russian leadership’s trip to Kazakhstan came after a separate visit to the country by French President Emmanuel Macron. French President Emmanuel Macron visited Kazakhstan last month.
The French leader had praised a country “which refuses to be at the bottom of the subjugation of a few powers,” an implied reference to Russia.
Lavrov responded, saying Macron’s statements were “quite brazen, for diplomatic language.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Western countries were investing in Central Asia for the sake of ousting Russia.
