00:00Thank you very much, Matthew Chance from CNN.
00:04You've, Mr. Lavrov, repeatedly praised President Trump
00:08for understanding Russia's interests on the issue of Ukraine, for instance,
00:13but you've also criticised recent U.S. moves against Russian allies
00:18in Venezuela, in Iran, threats against Cuba, things like that.
00:24My question is, to what extent do you think that inconsistency
00:29that unpredictability, that willingness to use unconstrained power
00:35by President Trump, actually in itself represents a threat to Russia?
00:43Well, from the outset, I spoke about Cuba and Venezuela
00:47in my opening remarks, as well as about Iran,
00:49and we see the inconsistency in actions by the administration of Donald Trump
00:56in terms of ensuring international security
00:59and their attitude towards international law.
01:02When asked this question several days ago,
01:05Donald Trump said he was not interested in international law.
01:09All the norms in the international arena were set by his own morality,
01:14as he said.
01:15This is a very interesting statement.
01:19We have never counted or expected that with any country
01:24or our neighbours we would have absolutely coinciding position.
01:29These positions cannot coincide absolutely,
01:33nor can it be the case between the two biggest nuclear powers,
01:38the U.S. and Russia.
01:39I think it's a very good chance right now to remember
01:45what New York Times has recently reported on.
01:51This newspaper prepared an article.
01:55It's called Godfather in Riyadh.
01:58It says that Marco Rubio,
02:02doing his talks with myself
02:04and with my delegation in Riyadh in February 2025,
02:13as New York Times has said,
02:15has basically switched on the film lover mode,
02:23citing Godfather.
02:24He allegedly cited Corleone,
02:27saying that I've always tried to be,
02:29not to be careless,
02:33women and children can be careless,
02:37but men cannot be,
02:39and nuclear powers cannot be careless.
02:41This conversation did happen,
02:43and if Marco Rubio thought it possible
02:46to share that with the press,
02:47I think I can do the same,
02:51and I can share some more details.
02:52At the very beginning of our meeting,
02:55Riyadh, Marco said,
02:57I'm not going to quote directly,
02:59I do not remember,
03:00but the essence is there,
03:01the gist is there.
03:02I remember that very well.
03:03He said,
03:03foreign policy of the US
03:06anti-President Trump
03:08is set by national interests
03:12as well as common sense.
03:13This means that the US recognizes
03:21that its leading partners
03:25also have their own national interests.
03:28Well, he didn't say all countries of the world,
03:31but he said leading partners,
03:34the other great powers
03:36all have their own national interests.
03:38and then he continued,
03:40the national interests of such countries
03:41as the US and Russia
03:43will not always coincide.
03:46In most cases,
03:48they won't coincide at all.
03:50But should they coincide whenever that happens,
03:56it would be a gross mistake
04:00not to take advantage
04:02of those coinciding positions
04:05to come to an agreement
04:09and implement mutually beneficial projects
04:12in economy and investment
04:14and finance and so on and so forth.
04:15And then he added,
04:17when the national interests
04:20of such countries as Russia
04:23and the US do not coincide,
04:25it would be a crime
04:26to let that lack
04:29of coinciding positions
04:31to degenerate into a confrontation,
04:35especially a hot confrontation.
04:39And in my response to him,
04:41I said that I fully share
04:42that philosophy,
04:43that logic,
04:45and I said that I do hope
04:47that I'm happy
04:48that the US understands
04:50that such a position
04:52articulated by Marco Rubio
04:54is well-founded.
04:55to be a good one.
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