Russia will continue along a political course based on supremacy of the international law and respect for the interests of all players in the global arena.

Russia will further adhere to a foreign policy course aimed at protecting its national interests and ensuring security of its people, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during his annual address to the Russian Parliament.

“Currently, the world is gradually becoming polycentric. In this context, many nations express their willingness to independently decide their future. No country or a group of countries can alone resolve modern global issues,” the minister said.

According to Lavrov, despite the fact that the West is seeking global dominance Moscow will continue to protect its national interests. The ultimate goal of Russia’s foreign policy is cooperation with other nations to establish peace and resolve global conflicts.

“We do not intend to give into attempts to drag us into a confrontation, not with the United States, not with NATO, not with the European Union.

Clearly, confrontational habits and fruitless geopolitical games only impede efforts to achieve sustainable global development and generate crises like the one in Ukraine,” Lavrov told Russian lawmakers.

He also called for Western countries to pressure Kiev to implement the Minsk peace agreements, via political dialogue with the self-proclaimed Donbass republics. As for Russia, it is ready to contribute to the settlement, Lavrov noted.

Moreover, Sergei Lavrov brought up the issue of conflict in the CIS. He underscored that it should be settled only in a peaceful way, taking into account previously reached agreements. The minister added that all crises would be much easier to resolve in close cooperation with European partners.

At the same time, Lavrov said, Western countries have already felt the outcome of sanctions and restrictions they imposed against Russia. Now, there is a growing number of those in the West who want Russia back in the G8 and want sanctions to be lifted.

“In fact, we’re trying to be creative and we’re not trying to blandish our European and American partners to remove sanctions. It is up to them to decide how to overcome this stalemate,” the minister said.

“We are not taking any initiative on this issue,” Lavrov said, adding that western partners were “persuading themselves that Russia has to be returned to G8.”

Russia has a vision of the future to establish a common economic and humanitarian space stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, developing cooperation using the formats of the Eurasian Economic Union, G20, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and ASEAN. Another major priority is BRICS.

“We’re in active talks on free trade zones with a number of countries across the world. We will rely on strategic partnerships with China, India, and Vietnam. Russia will also expand cooperation with other Asian-Pacific countries,” the minister said.

Lavrov also commented on the terrorist threat coming from the Middle East, saying Russia’s engagement in Syria contributed to weakening the terrorists in Syria.

Moscow will continue a foreign policy course based on respect for international legal norms and collective mechanisms to resolve international problems, with the leading role of the UN.