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Live Updates: West Can't Plunder African Countries Like in Colonial Times Anymore, Lavrov Says

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The event format includes answering a wide range of questions from both Russian and foreign journalists. The duration of the press conference is usually not... 14.01.2025, Sputnik Africa

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2025-01-14T12:25+0100

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Russian FM Lavrov Highlights 2024 Foreign Policy Results at Major Press Conference

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Russian FM Lavrov Highlights 2024 Foreign Policy Results at Major Press Conference

2025-01-14T09:38+0100

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Live Updates: West Can't Plunder African Countries Like in Colonial Times Anymore, Lavrov Says

09:38 14.01.2025 (Updated: 12:25 14.01.2025)

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The event format includes answering a wide range of questions from both Russian and foreign journalists. The duration of the press conference is usually not limited. Questions that remain unanswered during the event are subsequently addressed in writing by the ministry.

Sputnik Africa is live as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is holding a press conference with foreign and Russian journalists to summarize the work of Russian diplomacy over the past year and discuss the main directions of Russia's foreign policy for 2025 at a large annual press conference.

It is expected that the minister will share his assessments of global changes related to ongoing conflicts, particularly in Ukraine and the Middle East. Other important topics might include the situations in Syria, Transnistria, and Georgia. Many journalists are also usually interested in the minister's views on Russia's relationships with partners in the CSTO, BRICS, SCO, and other organizations.

Journalists are likely interested in the minister's views on future interactions with the incoming team of US President-elect Donald Trump, who is set to officially take office in less than a week on January 20.

Lavrov is also likely to address the expansion of Russia's ties with countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, as well as plans to deepen cooperation within BRICS, where Moscow held the presidency in 2024.

Table of contents

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13:46 14.01.2025

Lavrov on Western Sahara: "Only bilateral consent can resolve the issue"

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov emphasized the need for a balanced approach to resolving the Western Sahara conflict, advocating for adherence to UN Security Council resolutions and the principle of self-determination.

“Forty years ago, the Security Council stated that the issue of West Sahara should be decided based on the principle of self-determination, the will of the people, the citizens,” Lavrov noted, adding that decades of stagnation have brought no progress.

He highlighted Morocco's importance as a friendly nation and underscored Russia's readiness to support a fair resolution.

“We know how important it is for Morocco, and we’ll do our best in order to facilitate the resolution. But it’s only possible to address the issue based on bilateral consent rather than imposing something on one side,” he stated.

Lavrov also warned against unilateral decisions, referencing the US recognition of Western Sahara as part of Morocco under former President Trump, saying such actions provoke future instability.

13:35 14.01.2025

Lavrov: Russia maintains daily contacts with new authorities in Syria, is ready to assist in improving the situation there

"Our embassy hasn't moved away from Damascus. They have daily contacts, routine contacts, and we want to be useful in the efforts to normalize the situation. And it requires an inclusive national dialogue in Syria with participation of all political, ethnic, confessional forces and with participation of all foreign actors," he stressed.

Lavrov said that recently he had contacts with colleagues from Turkey, from the Gulf countries. The diplomats held a second meeting of the Jordan format in Saudi Arabia with participation of Arabs, Turkey, and some Western countries, he added.

"They assume this process has to be joined by Russia and China and obviously Iran. If someone is really willing to initiate a lasting process aimed at a real result instead of settling scores again with their competitors and rivals on the Syrian territory, the foreign minister noted.

12:38 14.01.2025

Russia is not leaving the Middle East: FM Lavrov on events in Syria and the future of dialogue between Russia and Arab world

"We are not leaving the Middle East. Yes, certain events have taken place in Syria. The president has commented on them, as well as some of our representatives. And largely, these events happened due to the fact that in the past years, in the past decade, starting from the moment when, upon request of the President of the Syrian Arab Republic, we sent our troops over there, and after we created the alternate format with Turkey and Iran, in which a number of Arab countries were involved, over the last period, there has been a slowing down of the political process. And probably there was a temptation not to change anything. We thought it was wrong. And we tried to prevent it," he said.

12:19 14.01.2025

Trump was the first among Western politicians to honestly admit that NATO lied to Russia about not expanding eastward, Lavrov says

12:04 14.01.2025

Russian Foreign Minister spoke out about the West's discrimination against Sputnik and RT news outlets: when Russian diplomats asked their Western colleagues in France why Sputnik and RT were not accredited to the White House, they were told "they are not media, they are propaganda"

11:41 14.01.2025

No meeting proposals from Trump's team yet, says Lavrov

"We'll wait for specific initiatives from the American side. President Putin has expressed his readiness to meet. [...] President Trump also mentioned he would be willing to meet, but only after he officially takes office," the Russian foreign minister said.

11:41 14.01.2025

Lavrov called Ukraine's Zelensky's adequacy "a separate issue" when speaking about his use of obscene language in a recent interview with Lex Fridman

"One [remembers] even before the special military operation, Zelensky said, 'if you feel yourself to be Russian in Ukraine, then you'd better leave to Russia,' you know, for the sake of your grandchildren and children. And a short time ago, he even used some indecent words when he spoke about the Russian peacekeepers. Well, whether or not he is adequate, it's a separate issue," the Russian foreign minister told the press.

11:33 14.01.2025

Lavrov: Comprehensive partnership agreement to be signed by Russian and Iranian presidents in Moscow in the nearest future and it is not directed against any other country

11:32 14.01.2025

Donbass, Crimea and Novorossiya residents did not believe that the Nazis who seized power in Ukraine represented their interests in the same way that Africans saw the colonizers, Lavrov says

"Similarly to the African peoples that did not believe that the colonizers represented them, now the Crimeans, the Donbass residents and the Novorossian residents could not perceive the Nazis that came to power through a coup d'etat to represent them and cater to their interests and needs," the Russian top diplomat noted.

Nazis, having seized power, proclaimed that they would eradicate the status of the Russian language in Ukraine, and they did so, and they banned laws, and they enacted laws banning the Russian language long before the special operation started, Sergrey Lavrov added.

"In the West, everybody is obsessed with the human rights, and no one said a word there," he emphasized.

11:32 14.01.2025

The right of nations to self-determination was not fully realized, today 17 non-self-governing territories remain in the world, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Sergey Lavrov notes

"But actually, right for self-determination was the legal basis for the decolonization process back in 1960s and 70s, when the African vernacular, the indigenous African tribes and peoples understood that the colonizers that ruled them then did not represent them and their interests," he said at the presser. "This is when the self-determination right enshrined in the charter was implemented at a large scale in full conformity with the charter, but not completely."

11:27 14.01.2025

All countries in the world must respect the interests of all their partners, Lavrov states

"We do not want to act against anyone. We only want one thing: for all countries on our planet, including the entire collective West led by the United States, to conduct affairs based on respect for the interests of all their partners. This is the shared position of Moscow and Beijing," he said.

11:21 14.01.2025

Russia is ready to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine, but for a settlement it is necessary to agree on larger security issues, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov says

11:19 14.01.2025

Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov: Turkey offers to act as mediator in possible future negotiations on Ukraine

11:19 14.01.2025

All countries in the world must respect the interests of all their partners, Lavrov states

11:13 14.01.2025

"History repeats itself:" Lavrov compares Biden's announcement of a 50-nation coalition in support of Kiev to the way Napoleon and Hitler rallied the nations of Europe against Russia

"These parallels are obvious. Napoleon seized Europe and used it in order to go and win Russia. The same happened with Hitler Germany when dozens of countries, occupied countries, countries that were occupied by the Germans, sent their militaries in order to destroy the Soviet Union," the Russian foreign minister explained.

When Biden made his recent statement on the foreign policy, he said proudly they have managed to strengthen the NATO and the allies, and that 50 countries were recruited in order to help Ukraine, Lavrov noted.

"But in reality, [it's] the fight against Russia, so history repeats itself," the top diplomat emphasized.

10:56 14.01.2025

"I will do what I want" — Lavrov describes Western interpretation of democracy

The Russian Foreign Minister remarked that the Western concept of democracy boils down to "I will do what I want."

Lavrov recalled the words of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who said that countries not aligning with Western policies "won't be invited to the democratic table" and instead "will be on the menu."

10:52 14.01.2025

Russia will carefully study Trump's final position on the Ukrainian settlement when he formulates it after his inauguration, FM Lavrov remarks

Lavrov said that Trump's words about the need to start from the situation on the ground in the settlement of Ukraine deserve welcome

10:43 14.01.2025

Sergey Lavrov on Trump's intention to buy Greenland from Denmark: first we need to listen to the opinion of the Greenlanders themselves

10:39 14.01.2025

Lavrov called the US and Armenia's decision to sign a document on strategic partnership a sovereign one

10:23 14.01.2025

The West is not in a position anymore to plunder African countries like in colonial times, Lavrov says

"And together with this UN Security Council reform, we will make the West understand that it is no longer capable to impose on the whole world for many centuries its own rules to pump out resources from Africa, Asia, and Latin America to live at the expense of others, and that we should seek the balance of interests," he said.