🎙 Interview by Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with RBC TV (Moscow, August 28, 2026)

Key points:

• The world is undergoing a transformation, profound changes. These changes will most likely span an entire era, so the generation currently living on Earth may not necessarily see the final configuration that emerges.

• After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the West always had the idea of “keeping Russia close” – but not as an equal partner. Even when we triumphantly joined the G8, which later reverted to the G7, our membership was never fully equal.

• The turning point in our attitude, when we finally understood and became convinced that the West had no intention of cooperating with us on an equal footing, was President Vladimir Putin’s Munich speech in 2007. Everyone knows it very well.

• As President Vladimir Putin has already said, we will always be ready for dialogue, but we have learned our lessons, and our relations with the West will never again be what they were before February 2022.

• The recent visits to Moscow by the Vatican’s top diplomat and the CIA Director reflected the desire of those who came here to visit and talk.

• I held talks with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations of the Holy See. There was nothing secret about our meeting. We spoke about virtually everything at the subsequent press conference.

• Like everywhere else in the world, Russia has established rules governing interaction between intelligence services. There is nothing unusual about this. Nor is there anything unusual about such work being conducted discreetly.

• Much of diplomacy, too, takes place behind the scenes, but diplomats, by tradition and by the very nature of their profession, are expected to say something publicly. Naturally, we do not disclose details that are particularly sensitive or still being worked out, where it is important not to jeopardise possible compromises or consensus.

• The Zelensky regime shells schools, children’s centres, beaches and passenger buses – a vast number of facilities that have nothing whatsoever to do with military capabilities. And the West keeps shamefully silent. Regrettably, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk are equally silent. ☝️ They have unequivocally and firmly sided with the Ukrainian regime.

• Geopolitically and geoeconomically, giants such as China, India and Brazil are asserting themselves and rapidly strengthening their economic standing, taking their rightful place in global economic affairs.

• Fundamental changes are taking place in Africa as the continent begins moving away from the neocolonial model under which raw materials were extracted there while value was added in Europe.

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