Russian foreign policy will always have multiple vectors - Lavrov

KALININGRAD, June 7. /TASS/. Russia’s foreign policy will always have numeral vectors and will never be directed only eastward or westward, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told students at a university in Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad. "Our predecessors left us a huge territory that occupies the lion’s share of Eurasia, and this term reflect the combination of European and Asian vectors in our policy. So we have no doubts about the need to direct our work along multiple vectors, as our foreign policy concept puts it," Lavrov said. "We must be active everywhere, we must defend our security, our borders, but at the same time keep these borders open for cooperation with everyone who is ready to do so on the basis of mutual respect and mutual interests," he went on. Russia’s top diplomat dismissed accusations that Moscow had to turn its back to the European Union and opt for cooperation with the east instead. "We have no right to turn our back on anyone, because we will lose our benefits and it will only make the matters worse," he said. "The EU’s move to impose artificial economic and political restrictions on our cooperation is a fact that must be taken into account," Lavrov continued. "But those times, painful for Europe, will eventually be over. And as soon as they cure this disease of sanctions, we will be ready to restore exactly as many of our ties as our partners will be ready to." "There are many formats in which we play a most active role. This is our country, and it has colossal geopolitical and economic advantages that must be used to the maximum," he said. Read more