Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has urged the West not to confuse Russia’s polite manners with weakness. He stated this after negotiations with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Hussein Abdullah al-Safadi.
The Foreign Minister noted that everything that happens in Russia in the West is covered very one-sided.
“The hysteria that we heard in connection with the trial in the Navalny case is, of course, off scale,” he said.
According to the minister, media coverage of protests in Russia and in the West demonstrates obvious double standards: when they cover events in Russia, they show almost only the police reaction, and not the actions of the demonstrators themselves. Although, added Lavrov, it is easy to see on the Internet how aggressive the participants in the latest unauthorized actions in Moscow and other Russian cities were.
“And when Western media cover events of the same kind at home, they usually show atrocities on the part of demonstrators – broken windows, burning cars, but police brutality <…> when, for example, in America, a police car runs over the bodies the demonstrators lying on the asphalt, it remains behind the scenes and can only be found on social networks, “the head of the Foreign Ministry said.
He recalled that the police in the West have the right to suppress any actions if they are not agreed or if they violate the procedure established by the authorities. For example, in Germany, France, the USA and other countries, demonstrators who try to enter the roadway and block traffic face several years in prison, a fine of many thousands of euros and other punishment.
Google News!“And the police deal with them much tougher than the actions of our law enforcement agencies regarding the participants in illegal actions,” the minister added.
“We are polite people”
He said that the Foreign Ministry prepared a special video about how illegal actions are suppressed in the West and how the Russian police are reacting to the atrocities of the participants in recent events, so that the discussion is conducted “on the basis of common sense and facts.” Lavrov conveyed this video to the Swedish Foreign Minister, OSCE Chairman Anne Linde, and also sent to Brussels the high representative of the European Union for foreign policy Josep Borrell, who is going to visit Moscow.
“So that he <…> also get acquainted with how we see an objective picture, drawn up on the basis of specific facts from both sides, and not on the basis of unfounded statements, to which, unfortunately, our Western colleagues are too accustomed – be it Skripals, be the so-called poisoning of Navalny, whether it be the events that occur in connection with his arrest and the verdict of the court, which was passed yesterday, “the minister said.
At the same time, he noted that he understands those who believe that Russia could react more aggressively to the openly arrogant, inappropriate rhetoric sounding from the West.
“But we, nevertheless, in our diplomatic, political culture are not used to slipping into boorish rhetoric. We are nevertheless polite people and are accustomed to achieving our goals, to seek justice politely and culturally. As they say, God is not in power, but in truth, – through the mouth of a well-known character in Russian cinema. Well, we also have a good proverb that needs to be remembered – we sleep softly, but hard, “the Foreign Minister concluded.
