Russia is ready for normalization of relations with those countries who will not follow the course of Western policy, but their places in the domestic market can already be taken, Alexander Venediktov, Deputy Secretary of the Russian Security Council (SB), told TASS.
"We are keeping the doors open. If any country decides to refuse to follow the course of the West's anti-Russian policy and normalize relations with Moscow, we are ready for dialogue," he said. "Another thing is that we cannot guarantee its restoration to pre-crisis positions. Say, seats in the Russian market may already be taken," Venediktov warned.
The deputy secretary stressed that Moscow, "unlike Americans, does not divide sovereign states into varieties and categories. "For Russia, any country that does not commit destructive actions against us and is set up for mutually beneficial cooperation is friendly by definition," Venediktov pointed out. According to him, Russia is stepping up cooperation with such countries, "for example, in the sphere of grain supplies, energy resources and other strategic raw materials, with which the situation in the world is tense at the moment."
Answering the question of whether Russia needs to create new alliances or expand existing ones, the deputy secretary of the Security Council pointed out that "the role of a number of versatile multilateral formats," including the SCO, BRICS, CSTO and EEU, is increasing in the new environment. "They are becoming a true embodiment of the multipolar world, the surge of interest in the SCO in recent months is a vivid confirmation," said Venediktov. "For us, these formats are of a strategic nature, their value does not depend on the conjuncture. The Russian strategy differs in this respect from the policy of the Americans who are knitting alliances and blocs for certain tasks: remember QUAD (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue between Australia, India, the US and Japan - TASS) or AUKUS (Australia, UK and US security partnership - TASS)," he stressed.
At the same time, the deputy secretary drew attention to the fact that Moscow establishes new schemes and models of interaction, if they are of interest to partners. "We actively work through the Security Council, for instance, we organize consultations of Russian and ASEAN high representatives responsible for security issues and support the activities of the multilateral mechanism on Afghanistan," Venediktov said.
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Based on materials from TASS