Russia warns of new ‘Iron Curtain’ — RT Russia and the former Soviet Union

A new « Iron Curtain » rises across Europe, this time set up by Western powers seeking to cut off Russia and Belarus over the conflict in Ukraine. Virtually overnight, the EU destroyed every relationship with Moscow it had built over decades, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday in Minsk.

« The Iron Curtain is now being erected by Westerners themselves », said Vladimir Makei, the Foreign Minister of Belarus. He clarified that he was referring not only to the severance of political and economic contacts, but to the physical barrier that has just been erected along the Polish-Belarusian border.

Makei said isolationism is one-sided, as Belarus continues to advocate dialogue with the West and the search for diplomatic solutions to problems.

“It is practically already in place”, Lavrov agreed, adding that Western countries « only do it carefully, not to pinch anything, but the process is underway. »

The Russian Foreign Minister, visiting Minsk, added that the EU had « destroy » the whole relationship with Moscow which took decades to build.

“The summits that took place twice a year, and the meetings of the Russian government and the European Commission, and the common spaces around which the four “roadmaps” were built, twenty sectoral dialogues, a dialogue without visas.. All of that was shot down overnight,” Lavrov said, referring to events in 2014, when Brussels condemned what he called Russia « annexation » Crimean. « Relationships have been non-existent since then. »

Moscow remains open to diplomacy and dialogue, but will make a decision on how to re-engage with its own interests in mind, the Russian diplomat said.

“I can only say that from now on we will not trust the Americans or the EU. We will do everything necessary not to depend on them in critical sectors,” said Lavrov.

The phrase « Iron Curtain » was born with Winston Churchill, the British politician who led the United Kingdom during World War II but lost the election soon after. The ousted Prime Minister accepted US President Harry Truman’s invitation to speak at a college in Fulton, Missouri in March 1946, and heralded the coming Cold War by declaring that « an iron curtain has descended on the continent » in reference to the establishment of socialist governments in the territories liberated by the Red Army in Eastern Europe.

Western historiography holds that the original « Iron Curtain » was destroyed in 1989, with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany – followed by the collapse of the USSR two years later.