🔹 Foreign Minister Sergey #Lavrov’s opening remarks at talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of #Norway Ine Marie Eriksen Soreide, #Kirkenes, October 25, 2019:

💬 I am delighted to be able to visit Norway again, or more precisely, Kirkenes, where the people treasure the memory of our joint fight against the invaders.

You spoke absolutely correctly about the persisting and even growing contradictions in the world, including on the #European continent, contradictions that are connected with the organisation you mentioned – #NATO – and its desire to find a reason for its continued existence. We are aware of this. Regrettably, our Western partners, blinded by a desire to find such a reason, set their eyes on a gross violation of international law, that is, the unconstitutional military coup in #Ukraine. Today we mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of northern Norway from the Nazis. It should be noted that neo-Nazi groups were the decisive power in the Ukrainian coup. This is why we are alarmed to witness the growing strength of neo-Nazi trends in #Europe. In this context, it is especially pleasant to see that Norway is consistently upholding the outcome of #WWII, which we greatly appreciate.

Like you, we believe that differences should be forgotten because we need to cleanse relations in Europe of the superficial and ideologically charged approaches and build a joint architecture of cooperation and security. We see that more and more Europeans are in favour of relying on precisely European formats and endeavour to ensure security not against but together with #Russia. I am referring, in part, to a recent statement by President of France Emmanuel Macron, which has received considerable attention in Europe.