Russia: "Not Avoiding Dialogue with the US... Positive about Summit"

"US President Will Talk When Cabinet Officials Are Proposed"
"No Interest in Price Cap on Russian Oil"

Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Noh Kyung-jo] Major foreign media outlets reported that Russia recently reiterated a positive stance on the possibility of holding a summit with the United States, which failed to materialize at the G20 summit.

According to reports, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a press conference on European security in Moscow on the 1st (local time) and responded to questions about the possibility of a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden by saying, "As I have said many times, Russia never avoids dialogue."

He added, "If the U.S. president or cabinet officials propose, we will not cut off dialogue." Minister Lavrov also said in October that a bilateral summit would be possible if the U.S. proposed it.

The possibility of a bilateral summit arose during the G20 summit held in Bali, Indonesia, on the 15th-16th of last month. However, the meeting fell through as President Putin did not attend, citing domestic schedules.

Regarding whether he had communicated with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Lavrov said, "A long time ago, Secretary Blinken called only once, but he was solely interested in Americans in Russian prisons." He added that he hopes to reach results through channels between the intelligence agencies of the two countries.

He expressed a negative stance on Western support for the war in Ukraine. Recently, Russia abruptly postponed the Bilateral Consultative Commission (BCC) meeting for the implementation of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with the U.S., scheduled for the day before, citing this issue.

He said, "It is impossible to discuss strategic stability while ignoring everything happening in Ukraine," and added, "Any war between nuclear-armed states is unacceptable. It is naive to think that nuclear issues can be discussed while the U.S. tries to destroy Russia."

Regarding the Western-led price cap on Russian oil, he said, "We do not care how the cap is set," reaffirming the policy of not supplying oil to countries that implement the price cap. The Group of Seven (G7), led by the U.S., and the European Union (EU) have agreed to limit the price of Russian crude oil. However, coordination among EU countries is facing difficulties.