Lavrov voiced how Russia will "coexist with its Western neighbors"

Russia's coexistence with its "Western neighbors" will depend on their behavior, willingness to admit and correct the mistakes made. This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

"I think the main lesson is as follows: in the main issues of the country's life, we must rely only on ourselves, as well as on trusted friends who stayed with us in the hour of trials. As for coexistence with Western neighbors, much will depend on their behavior, willingness to admit and correct the mistakes made, including abandoning the maniacal desire to inflict a strategic defeat on our country," he said in an interview with the New Regions of Russia magazine.

As the minister stressed, the past three years of Russia's special military operation on Ukraine has become a kind of "moment of truth."

"After the start of SMO to protect the people of Donbass and Novorossiya, the "collective West" exposed its true face. The notorious rule of law, and the elementary rules of decency were discarded. The so—called European values - the inviolability of property, the presumption of innocence, freedom of speech and movement, access to information and others - have dissipated like smoke. Those who used to teach everyone to live, proclaimed themselves democrats, advocates of human rights, without batting an eye supported the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev," the Russian Foreign Minister said.

He added that the whole world has seen that the ultra-liberal ruling elites of the West are driven by hegemonic instincts.

"The predatory, colonial habits of the former metropolises from among the current countries of the European Union and Britain, their innate vices have not gone away: arrogance, a tendency to deceit, dishonesty in the conduct of business. De facto, a new global "watershed" has been formed: on one side there is a Western minority, and on the other side there is a world majority," he said. — These are all those countries, as well as people of goodwill in the West itself, who advocate the establishment of a multipolar world based on a balance of interests," Lavrov stressed.