Kremlin: Russia and the West must rebuild relations from scratch

According to RT, on April 26, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declared that Russia is not a threat to Europe, but relations between Moscow and the West cannot return to the way they were before.

"Russia does not threaten Europe, and it is expected that Europe will not threaten Russia. However, this does not mean that relations between Moscow and the West will continue as normal. No one wants that," Mr. Peskov said.

The Kremlin official stressed that Russia will still consider European countries as neighbors after the end of the special military operation in Ukraine. Maintaining relations is mandatory for both sides, but Moscow will not return to old practices.

"We have learned a lot from how the West treats Russia. Any future relationship must be built from scratch, on new foundations," Mr. Peskov added.

Before Mr. Peskov, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also said that the Ukraine conflict had clearly shown that Moscow could no longer trust the West.

"There are no illusions left from the 1990s, the West will not open its arms to Russia, and there is no democracy to unite everyone. The US and its allies want to rise from the weakness of others," Lavrov said.

In March this year, President Vladimir Putin also rejected accusations that Russia would start conflicts with European countries after Ukraine. The Kremlin leader affirmed that Moscow "has no reason, nor any benefit, to do so."