Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday that his country is willing to work with an eventual US government of Donald Trump as long as there is “an equitable and mutually respectful dialogue.”

Asked at a press conference at the UN about Trump’s possible victory in the November U.S. presidential election (which the polls consider certain), Lavrov replied that Russia is “ready to work with any leader the American people chooses,” but stressed that it must be on the basis of mutual respect.

He also recalled that during the previous Trump administration (2017-21) “there was a constant dialogue despite the very serious sanctions” that the United States imposed against Russia, and stressed that this dialogue “is useful in all cases,” but it has completely disappeared since the war in Ukraine began.

There were also questions about Donald Trump’s vice president candidate, J.D. Vance, who has been very critical of his country’s full support for Ukraine and has suggested that the US should neglect that conflict.

“He is in favor of peace, in favor of ending the assistance that is being provided, and we can only applaud him because it is exactly what we need: stop supplying weapons to Ukraine without stopping, and so the war will end and we can start looking for solutions,” Lavrov said.

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About possible negotiations between Russia and Ukraine at the end of the war, the minister made it clear what the red lines are: all the territories that had unilateral referendums for their incorporation into Russia are now a “non-negotiable issue, there is no discussion about it.”

“Now they are part of the Federation and it is enshrined in our constitution, we cannot leave them alone,” he said, referring to the four regions – Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporiya and Kherson – that in 2022 voted for their annexation to Russia, although they were not internationally recognized votes.

But he regretted that every gasmp of negotiations to end the war in Ukraine is stumbled upon the refusal of what he called the West and the European Union, which he criticized for marginalizing those who, as is the case of Viktor Orban’s Hungarian government, advocate seeking a negotiated way out of the war right now.

In this regard, he completely ruled out the 10-point peace plan of the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, which he described as “extremely arrogant,” and contrasted it with what he called “China’s plan,” which according to him was improved with certain proposals from Brazil and that could serve as a negotiating base.

In a press conference in which he reviewed international politics in its entirety – including his thesis that the third world must work together for a “de-dollarization,” or less dependence on the dollar – he also referred to the Palestinian conflict and criticized the numerous Security Council resolutions breached by Israel with the connivance of its main partner, the United States.

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He referred to Iran’s role in the region and the statements of the new president-elect in that country, Masud Pezeshkian, who according to Lavrov has “a very responsible position (which indicates) that Iran is not interested in an escalation” in the region, and particularly in Lebanon through its ally, the Lebanese Shiite movement Hizbulah, embroked in fighting with Israel.

For Lavrov, “it is Israel that is interested in escalation, while Hezbollah is being very restrusive in its actions”; unfortunately, he continued, “the impression is that there is an attempt to provoke them (…) so that they reach a direct participation with their armed force in this conflict.”

He assured that his country is “doing everything possible to calm the tension” on that Lebanese front, and said he hoped that “the West will also do everything in its power to ensure that this provocative trend of Israel is forgotten.”