Moscow will focus on developing relations with China and would consider offers from the West to re-establish ties depending if they are needed, Russia’s foreign minister has said.
Sergei Lavrov, in a question and answer session at an event in Moscow on Monday, said Western countries had espoused “russophobia” since Russia began its invasion on Ukraine.
Mr Lavrov said the country was working to replace goods imported from Western countries and in future would rely only on “reliable” countries not beholden to the West.
“If they (the West) want to offer something in terms of resuming relations, then we will seriously consider whether we will need it or not,” Mr Lavrov said, according to a transcript on the foreign ministry’s website.
“We must cease being dependent in any way on supplies of absolutely everything from the West for ensuring the development of critically important sectors for security, the economy or our homeland’s social sphere.”
Mr Lavrov said Moscow’s goal was to work on further building its ties with China.
“Now that the West has taken a ‘dictator’s position’, our economic ties with China will grow even faster,” he said.
“In addition to direct revenue for the state budget, this is a chance to develop (Russia’s) far east and eastern Siberia.”
Follow the latest updates below.
02:28 AM
Today marks three months of war
Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24, with Tuesday marking three months since the war began.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said since the start of the invasion, the Russian army had launched 1,474 missile strikes at Ukraine, using 2,275 different missiles.
“The vast majority was aimed at civilian objects,” Mr Zelensky said.
More than 3,000 air strikes by Russian aircraft and helicopters have also targeted Ukraine.
02:06 AM
In pictures: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
01:25 AM
Zelensky confirms 87 deaths in Desna
Russia’s attack on the Ukrainian town of Desna in the Chernihiv region last week resulted in 87 deaths, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Mr Zelensky confirmed the death toll in his nightly video address on Monday, on the eve of the three-month anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“The clearance of debris in Desna in the Chernihiv region has been completed. 87 dead. And these were only four missiles,” he said.
The town’s death toll could be one of the largest of any single strike during the war.
01:18 AM
Today’s top stories
-
A Ukrainian court sentenced a 21-year-old Russian tank commander Sgt Vadim Shishimarin to life in prison for killing a Ukrainian civilian, in the first war crimes trial since Russia’s invasion
-
Russian president Vladimir Putin survived an assassination attempt at the start of the war in Ukraine, a Kyiv intelligence chief disclosed
-
Veteran US statesman Henry Kissinger urged the West to stop trying to inflict a crushing defeat on Russian forces in Ukraine, warning that it would have disastrous consequences for the long term stability of Europe
-
A Russian diplomat at the country’s permanent mission at the United Nations in Geneva said on Monday he was leaving his post because of his disagreement with Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, a rare political resignation over the war
-
Ukraine’s First Lady warned a WHO assembly that the impacts of Russia’s war on healthcare and mental health could be felt for decades
-
President Volodymyr Zelensky also said Ukraine is in talks over establishing food corridors to export its grain
-
Some 20 countries have announced new security assistance packages for Ukraine during a virtual meeting with allies aimed at coordinating arms for Kyiv, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said
-
Some 87 people were killed in a Russian air strike in the town of Desna last Tuesday, Mr Zelensky said, in what would be Ukraine’s biggest military death toll in a single strike of the war
-
Mr Zelensky used the Davos summit of global economic leaders to issue a fresh appeal for more weapons for his country and “maximum” sanctions against Moscow
-
Russian troop casualties in Ukraine “likely” match the death toll from Soviet Union’s nine-year war in Afghanistan, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said
