Top 66 Sergei Lavrov Quotes

Iran will be the most checked and inspected country if the principles agreed in Lausanne are transferred into the language of practical agreements.

Attempts to settle crises by unilateral sanctions outside the framework of U.N. Security Council decisions threaten international peace and stability. Such attempts are counterproductive and contradict the norms and principles of international law.

I hope that the United States would cooperate with the partners to reduce its debt. The debt is a problem. The debt is with you, but unfortunately, the debt is not only with you but with us and with the rest of the world because we all, one way or another, are dependent on the dollar.

Syria is a multi-confessional state: in addition to Sunni and Shia Muslims, there are Alawites, Orthodox and other Christian confessions, Druzes, and Kurds.

Russia would not support anything which would be actually imposed on Syrians.

Saddam Hussein was the one person after whom the United States went, and they ruined the country.

You either deny terrorists any acceptance in the international life, or you make your double standard policy work the way it has been working – ‘I don’t like that guy in this country, so we will be calling him a dictator and topple him. This guy in another country also dictatorial, but he’s our dictator.’

Russia has every reason to dispose of its nuclear arsenal… to suit its interests and international legal obligations.

The Americans have taken the course of confrontation and do not assess their own steps critically at all.

We are certain that Ukraine needs profound constitutional reform. In all fairness, we can’t see any other way to ensure the stable development of Ukraine but to sign a federal agreement.

Russia would prefer to rebuild trust rather than allow it to further corrode. That’s why, in July 2007, President Putin, in the spirit of strategic openness, proposed a truly collective effort at missile defense for Europe.

There’s no room for petty grievances in politics.

I very much hope that the United States will finally… realise that they can no longer act as the prosecutor, the judge, and the executioner in every part of the world and that they need to cooperate to resolve issues.

Shouldn’t the General Assembly adopt a declaration on the inadmissibility of interference into domestic affairs of sovereign states and nonrecognition of coup d’etats as a method of the change of power?

Attempts to put pressure on Russia and to compel it to abandon its values, truth and justice have no prospects whatsoever.

When Colonel Gadhafi started using his air force against civilians on the ground, we did not hesitate. Then we supported the resolution of the Security Council, which introduced arms embargo for Libya.

If you look at U.S. Congress, 80 percent of them have never left the U.S.A., so I’m not surprised about Russophobia in Congress.

For years, we have been asking the E.U. to create something similar to the Russia-NATO council. Not in order to simply exchange opinions and work out recommendations, but to make decisions.

We are categorically against proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Crimea was not a non-nuclear zone in an international law sense but was part of Ukraine, a state which doesn’t possess nuclear arms.

We are convinced that the only way to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue is through negotiations.

You cannot defeat Islamic State with airstrikes only. It’s necessary to cooperate with ground troops, and the Syrian army is the most efficient and powerful ground force to fight the Islamic State.

It is absolutely unacceptable to talk to Russia – or anyone for that matter – in the language of ultimatums and coercive measures.

On September 11, 2001, Russia’s then-president, Vladimir Putin, called U.S. President George W. Bush – making Putin the first international leader to speak with Bush after the attacks.

We can say that Japan is the only country that calls into question the outcome of the Second World War; no one else does.

Humanitarian issues must bring together all people who act in good faith trying to alleviate the suffering of people in dire need – especially women, children and the elderly.

We are categorically against any new military nuclear power, be it Iran, be it North Korea, be it anyone.

We have been getting out of the situation where we found ourselves in the early ’90s, when the Soviet Union disappeared and the Russian Federation became what it is – you know, with no borders, with no budget, no money, and with huge problems starting with lack of food and so on and so forth.

We feel no isolation. But, having said that, I want to emphasise in particular that we do not want to go to extremes and abandon the European and American directions in our foreign economic cooperation.

I don’t think you can perpetrate war crimes with defensive weapons, with air defense systems.

We have no desire to continue a sanctions war, trading blows.

When Ukrainians kill Ukrainians, I believe this is as close to a civil war as you can get.

Washington has openly declared its right to unilateral use of force anywhere to uphold its own interests.

If it acts like a terrorist, if it walks like a terrorist, if it fights like a terrorist, it’s a terrorist, right?

There is nothing in this world which could be not described as requiring more.

A second opinion never hurts, not only in medicine, but also in politics.

The attempts to distort the truth and to hide the facts behind blanket accusations have been undertaken at all stages of the Ukrainian crisis.

Do not form your judgment about our military doctrine from the assessments given by NATO representatives.

You know that we are not in the regime-change game. We are against interference in domestic conflicts.

With regards to the expansion of NATO, I see it as a mistake, even a provocation in a way.

Frankly speaking, we don’t see any other way for the steady development of the Ukrainian state apart from as a federation.

What we did say is that it is up to the Syrians themselves to decide how to run the country, how to introduce the reforms, what kind reforms, without any outside interference.

Sanctions are a sign of irritation; they are not the instrument of serious policies.

I wouldn’t even go into the history of the last days of the Soviet Union, the withdrawal from Europe, and what promises were given at that time, because those were oral promises, and our leaders of that time strongly believe that, like in ancient Russia, a word given is better than any treaty.

The E.U.’s Eastern Partnership programme is designed to bind the so-called focus states tightly to itself, shutting down the possibility of co-operation with Russia.

I don’t want to say that sanctions are ridiculous and that we couldn’t care less; these are not pleasant things… We find little joy in that, but there are no painful sensations. We have lived through tougher times.

We can only talk to those who opt for the sovereign, territorially integral, secular, multiethnic and multi-confessional Syria.

Russia probably knows the true cost of revolutions better than most other countries.

Hours before the Georgian invasion, Russia had been working to secure a United Nations Security Council statement calling for a renunciation of force by both Georgia and South Ossetians. The statement that could have averted bloodshed was blocked by western countries.

I don’t believe in ideology in international relations.

Russia and the U.S. must jointly manage expectations to ensure that attempts to ‘reset’ our relationship succeed.

Our stand is crystal-clear – we want peace in Ukraine, which can only be attained through broad national dialogue in which all regions and all political forces of the country must participate.

The international community unfortunately did take sides in Libya, and we would never allow the Security Council to authorise anything similar to what happened in Libya.

Russia has done more than any other country to support the independent Ukrainian state, including for many years subsidising its economy through low energy prices.

You cannot strengthen the law by violating the law.

The struggle against terrorists in the territory of Syria should be structured in cooperation with the Syrian government, which clearly stated its readiness to join it.

Russia and the U.S. have unique experience in ensuring the safety and security of nuclear material.

I know that Britain and the United States and others ship arms in the Middle East, 10 or maybe 100 times more than the Russian does.

Russia and the U.S. bear a special responsibility in world affairs. We have much to offer the rest of the world. Our common history testifies to this, and modern challenges demand that we work together.

We believe that this is not right for a democracy to make revolutions the beacon of promoting democracy.

The jihadists come from many European countries, Russia included, and some even from the United States; hundreds of them – if you take Europe, Russia and the U.S. – are fighting in the ranks of extremist groups.

If you say that your national law allows you to do something, it is fine as long as you do this inside your own territory. As long as you go international, you really have to be sure that there is an international law which you respect and which you follow.