(Newswire.net — November 20, 2014) — Washington, DC. – At the UN General Assembly in September President Obama named what he views as the three worst global threats. He named Russian’s aggression in Ukraine as the second world’s greatest threat behind Ebola. He said Russia is even worst global threat than ISIS.
On another occasion, at G20 summit in Australia, Obama repeated Russia is at the top on worst global threats list.
When Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov asked US Secretary of State John Kerry to explain, Kerry told him to “pay no mind” to the statement by President Obama.
“I was pointing out the enumeration of threats, which Obama has allowed himself, starting with his speech at the UN General Assembly,” Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday, speaking at the lower house of the Russian parliament.
“Not so long ago, I was having a conversation with John Kerry and asked him what it all meant. He answered, ‘Pay it no mind’,” Lavrov said.
The State Department said later that Kerry did say that, however, it was misinterpretation by the Russian foreign Minister since US State Secretary was referring to a topic as he wanted to discuss the Iranian nuclear program issue and the situation on the Korean Peninsula.
The US State Spokesman Jeffery Rathke said the US Department has seen the reports of Mr. Lavrov’s comments. “It’s unfortunate that these reports indicate that the foreign minister has incorrectly characterized the private diplomatic discussions between himself and Secretary Kerry,” he said.
The official attitude of the US State Department is that US will continue to work with Russia on areas where they agrees, “while standing firmly against Russia’s violations of international principles and the sovereignty of other nations,” US State Department spokesman said. He added that there is no doubt US State Secretary John Kerry supports the President’s statements regarding Russia “and he didn’t indicate otherwise in his conversation.”
Referring to sanctions against Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov said it only “undermining efforts to get the world economy stabilized and aren’t driving the world an inch closer to the solution of the Ukrainian conflict,” accusing US leads global campaign against Russia, pressuring other countries to support for sanctions.
“It’s not appropriate for a powerful country to have such a consumer attitude to its partners,” Lavrov commented. “Where you’re needed, help us; where you’re not, obey us.”
Lavrov said that there is only one way to solve crisis in Ukraine and that is to bring Kiev and the leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk regions to the negotiation table.