Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with the Italian newspaper Limes that Russia, pursuing an independent foreign policy, does not search for enemies. "Obviously, the desire of the US and other Western states to divide countries and peoples into 'friends' and 'foes' does not help solve the existing problems, but only aggravates the tensions in world affairs, as the situations in the Middle East and North Africa demonstrate," the minister drew attention.

The head of Russian diplomacy also noted that there are political forces in Europe today, which are making considerable efforts to raise the level of conflict on our continent in order to settle historical scores with Russia. "At the same time, even in the current difficult conditions, many European countries, including our Italian partners, show sincere interest in maintaining constructive dialogue with our country, improving the situation in the European space. We appreciate such an attitude," Lavrov added.

The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow's policy is based on the idea that "the progressive development of equal and mutually beneficial relations between Russia and the European Union is in the interest of both sides". "Especially since many challenges and threats, including an unprecedented surge of terrorism and extremism, require the establishment of joint work. We do not see a reasonable alternative to the formation of the area of ​​economic and humanitarian cooperation," he added.

Speaking of relations between Moscow and Washington, Sergei Lavrov noted that it would be incorrect to compare the current relations between the two countries with those during the 'Cold War'. "The situation was fundamentally different, tensions between the two superpowers were due to conditioned irreconcilable confrontation of ideologies and socio-economic models, which was projected onto the entire system of international relations," he explained.

In addition, "the world has changed dramatically over the past 25 years and today we can say with certainty that all the attempts to form a unipolar model of the world order have failed", so the global security, sustainable development and effective fight against modern threats can be based only on the international law, Lavrov said.

"One gets the impression that Washington is not aware of no alternative to this course of action. They prefer 'American exceptionalism' rather than objective trend of multipolarity formation, striving to save the remnants of its own hegemony in the world" the Russian minister said.

Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow always offers "to develop bilateral relations on the basis of fair partnership without diktat and coercion." "When the US has decided to stop cooperation, we warned that this line leads to deadlock. It seems that Washington now realizes that it is impossible to 'isolate' Russia or limit its impact by the regional level," he said. The head of Russian diplomacy also pointed out that, despite the aggressive rhetoric of the United States, the Obama administration has not stopped the dialogue with Russia on a range of key issues, repeatedly asking for support.

"We hope that the US approach to relations with Russia will evolve towards more pragmatic level," Sergei Lavrov said, adding that Russia does not seek confrontation and is open for cooperation with the United States.

"This, of course, does not mean that Russia forces the US to be friends and will close its eyes to aggressive attacks," he explained. Relations with Washington are normalized, when the US will demonstrate a constructive attitude and show a real willingness to do business on the basis of genuine equality, taking into account Russian interests," the Russian minister concluded.