Cholpon-Ata - Saba:
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced on Monday that the catastrophic increase in NATO's military budget will lead to the collapse of this organization.
Lavrov said at a press conference following a meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Foreign Ministers' Council: "The catastrophic increase, in my opinion, in the NATO military budget will also lead to the collapse of this organization."
Lavrov emphasized that Russia is guided by common sense in the matter of military spending, not "far-fetched threats," as NATO does.
Commenting on the unrest in Serbia, Lavrov expressed his country's hope that the protests in Serbia will be resolved based on the country's constitution and laws. He emphasized that Moscow is closely monitoring the situation and praised the Serbian leadership's willingness to engage in dialogue with the protesters.
Lavrov told reporters: "We are following this situation, and we are interested in seeing these unrest subside, as Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said, based on the constitution and laws of this friendly country."
The minister added: "We hope that Western countries, which usually try to take advantage of internal events in various countries to achieve their interests at the expense of their partners, will not carry out their color revolutions this time."
Regarding the situation in Armenia, Lavrov stressed that the events are an internal matter for the country, but that the attacks on the church are of great concern.
Lavrov told reporters: "This is obviously an internal matter for our neighbors, but of course, the attacks on the ancient Armenian Apostolic Church, which dates back a thousand years, are of great concern. The church has always been one of the cornerstones of Armenian society, and we absolutely do not want this church to be subjected to unjustified attacks without any serious basis."
The Russian minister added: "We are interested in resolving this situation as soon as possible on the basis of the Armenian Constitution and on the basis of full respect for the rights of believers, as well as other human rights."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Kyrgyzstan for a two-day visit, where he met with the country's President Sadyr Japarov and Foreign Minister Jeenbek Kolobayev, and also participated in a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Collective Security Treaty Organization.