Russia is open to negotiations and equitable dialogue with all partners, including the EU and the US, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a meeting with the participants in the Russian Educational Youth Forum dubbed Terra Scientia on the Klyazma on Friday.

Axar.az reports citing TASS.

"We are open to negotiations and dialogue with all without exception, including the European Union and the United States," he said. "Although this dialogue has become somewhat slower, by and large, it has never been interrupted. The most important thing is to make sure that everyone sees us as an equal partner, then we will be able to find that balance of interests that can be called justice."

Lavrov stressed that Russia will continue to pursue an independent foreign policy. "We will continue an independent foreign policy. We will seek such approaches towards international affairs that are based on the search for honest compromises, honest agreements taking into account the interests and based on the balance of interests of those countries that are involved in a certain process rather than attempts to impose ideas and line of action," Lavrov said.

"Some part of Western elites would like Russia to be a weak country. The sanctions war is aimed at achieving that goal, among others," Russia’s top diplomat noted. "We will not do anything to the detriment of our interests, and everyone knows that."