Lavrov: EU will not succeed in pushing Russia out of Central Asia, Transcaucasia

The European Union does not hide plans to push Russia out of Central Asia and Transcaucasia, it will not succeed.

This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the program "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin", a fragment of which journalist Pavel Zarubin published on Telegram-channel, TASS reports.

"The European Union does not hide its intentions to restrain us in every possible way, to push us out of Central Asia and Transcaucasia. This is not going to work. We are here historically and we will not disappear anywhere. And our partners, our allies know it very well," the head of the diplomatic department pointed out.

Commenting on the article that appeared in the Western press after French President Emmanuel Macron's visit to Kazakhstan, where the country was called "the backyard of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin," Lavrov noted that the leaders of the Western world "allow themselves quite boorish statements."

"French President Macron, during his visit to Kazakhstan, publicly said he was glad that this country would never be anyone's vassal. Also quite brazen for diplomatic language," the minister emphasized.

Earlier, Macron, following a meeting with Kazakh President Kasym-Jomart Tokayev, said that Kazakhstan "refuses to be a vassal of any powers, but builds a balanced partnership with several of them for the benefit of the Kazakh people," noting that this philosophy is close to France.