At a press conference after the OSCE meeting on December 1, the Russian Foreign MinisterLavrovto their peersU.S. Secretary of StateBlinken and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy BeauReillyTaunts were made. He said that while the West invited him to the meeting, Blinken and BeauReillyBut he left the scene early, not daring to have a formal face-to-face conversation with him. LavrovThink this shows Blinken and BeauReillyToo timid, they are cowardly cowards.
There is some truth to Lavrov's ridicule. First of all, he mentioned that at the OSCE meeting in 2023, Western countries invited Russia to participate, but treated Russia coldly, which is a clear double standard. If the West is really confident and stands on the moral high ground, they can quite well meet and dialogue with Russia. But in fact, Western countries have taken an impolite attitude towards Russia, tooLavrovOne of the main reasons why they are too timid.
Secondly,LavrovIt is believed that Western counterparts do not dare to hold meetings or dialogues with him, but in fact they are weak-minded. If the West really has a real problem and a reason, they can negotiate with Russia on this issue. However, they are connected withLavrovNone of them had the courage to discuss the issue directly as the parties, which showed their timidity. LavrovThe irony points out that if their Western counterparts are really confident and on the side of justice, they should be brave enough to talk to Russia.
Finally,LavrovBlinken was ridiculed because he believed that the United States had no other means to harm Russia than to threaten it. At the OSCE meeting, although Western countries were reluctantly invitedLavrovparticipation, but created difficulties on visa and transit issues, trying to prevent the participation of the Russian delegation. Lavrovsaid that this little trick is just a game played by children, not a hobby of adults. He believes that the United States, as the boss of the world, should look like the boss and not use such tricks to disgust Russia. LavrovThe sarcasm is directed at Blinken, expressing his cowardice about the United States on this issue.
From the point of view of the United States, although they invited Russia to participate in the meeting, it does not mean that Russia must be given high-standard treatment. They simply believe that Russia is a European country and needs to restore some ties with it, based on the actual situation. However, there are several reasons why the United States and Europe are reluctant to open formal negotiations with Russia.
First, while the Russia-Ukraine conflict has cast a shadow over the United States and Europe, they still need to take care of Ukraine's ideas. Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania said at the meeting that without Russia there would be no four countries, and with these four countries there would be no Russia. Although the four countries did not attend the meeting, their emotions still need to be appeased, which is one of the reasons why the United States and Europe are reluctant to negotiate with Russia in a formal setting.
Secondly, the United States and Europe appear somewhat powerless in the face of Russia. Although they used a variety of themSanctions were imposed on Russia, but they did not really hurt Russia. In this case, Blinken and BeauReillyAnd don't know how to work withLavrovConduct negotiations, and in the absence of bargaining chips, negotiations are meaningless.
Finally, the United States and Europe also need to avoid a greater confrontation with Russia. Although at the meeting, Blinken and BeauReillyConcerns have been expressed about Russia's military deployment, but they do not want to resolve the issue through negotiations or dialogue. They are more inclined to deal with Russia by means of sanctions and threats. In this case, withLavrovHaving a formal face-to-face conversation could be perceived as a show of weakness to Russia, which is contrary to their position.
In short,LavrovTo Blinken and BeauReillyThere is some truth to the taunts. The timidity and inability of Western countries to a certain extent affected the formal dialogue with Russia. However, from the position of the United States and Europe, they may not want direct negotiations with Russia and prefer to deal with it with sanctions and threats. This is also what causes them to be reluctant to work withLavrovOne of the reasons to have a formal face-to-face conversation.