Maria Zakharova blames “hybrid war unleashed by global West”
The spokeswoman for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova, has today criticised Portugal’s ‘hostile stance’ against Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine – suggesting that “regrettably, Portuguese-Russian relations are experiencing the deepest crisis in their entire history.
“The hybrid war unleashed by the global West against Russia has destructively influenced the whole complex of Russia’s relations with Portugal. Why? Because of the hostile stance taken by Portugal from the start of the special military operation.
“Lisbon immediately fell in with the anti-Russian policy and rhetoric. As a result, Portuguese-Russian relations are experiencing the deepest crisis in their history,’ she said in response to a question from the Lusa news agency via videoconference.
The director of the Press Department of the Russian foreign ministry, headed by Serguei Lavrov, Zakharova said that “it was the Portuguese side that froze all political contacts and reduced economic relations to very limited trade.
“By decision of the Portuguese Parliament, the Portuguese-Russian friendship parliamentary group was dissolved. Interregional collaboration was also ended. On January 20 this year, the Lisbon Municipal Assembly voted to end the protocol on friendship and collaboration with Moscow, which had been in force since 1997″, she added.
“An anti-Russian campaign fuelled at official level” is underway in Portugal, with the Portuguese authorities reducing “contacts with the Russian Embassy in Lisbon to a minimum.
“Both the Portuguese authorities and their foreign counterparts have practically imposed a regime of isolation on our ambassador”, Zakharova went on.
“It’s not very clear what this is for, since there are issues that can and should be resolved together, which is made difficult by illegitimate and Russophobic positions, I don’t know if from Lisbon or imposed from outside, for example by NATO, the European Union (EU), the United States or the anti-Russian lobby operating in Portugal”, she added.
In the same videoconference, Maria Zakharova emphasised that the “collapse of diplomatic relations” between Lisbon and Moscow is not Russia’s choice and that it “in no way corresponds to the interests of the Portuguese people”, hoping that “sooner or later, Portugal will regain a rational analysis of the facts that occur in the modern world”.
Russia remains “open to building good relations with foreign partners’, including those it calls unfriendly regimes”, she declared.
Asked by Lusa about Russian relations with countries on the African continent (some of which are former Portuguese colonies), Maria Zakharova said that Moscow is working to strengthen ties “in the areas of foreign policy and humanitarian aid.
“We are working, both on the African continent and on other continents, not to deepen our influence, but to deepen cooperation”, she stressed.
Zakharova recalled the recent visit to Moscow by President of Guinea-Bissau Umaro Sissoco Embaló on the occasion of the Victory Day celebrations last week, and indicated that a ministerial meeting is scheduled for November in Sochi, which she hopes will be attended by Portuguese-speaking African countries.
“The Russian-African summits are not a response to the sanctions imposed by the West against our country. We simply have proposals for African countries. That’s how the format of the Russian-African summits came about. Russia proposes a partnership that is honest and equal in rights, without politicisation or pressure, without interference in the internal affairs of other countries. We have helped many African countries free themselves from colonial rule. These are known facts and it is within this framework that we are driving our relations forward”, she added.
“The Russian military offensive on Ukrainian territory, launched on February 24, 2022, has plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since the Second World War”, concludes Lusa.
Lusa
