Russia can develop even if West lowers 'Iron Curtain' - Lavrov

MOSCOW. March 2 (Interfax) - Russia will find a way to live and develop if the West decides "to lower the Iron Curtain," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"It is clear to everyone that building an Iron Curtain is for those who think in the concepts of the past, the concepts of colonialism and neocolonialism. But if the West decided so, I assure you, we will find a way to continue living, developing and will not even be too upset about what our Western partners did, once again proving their complete unreliability and utter inability to negotiate," Lavrov said in an interview with Al Jazeera.

The Iron Curtain was once lowered by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, he said.

"Britain is clearly feeling uncomfortable that it is beginning to sink into oblivion, once it carried out Brexit, this was all over the news. Now it is seeking an opportunity to get 'active' again on the international stage, to play up to the United States and serve the task of keeping Europe under U.S. control. I don't think there is any need to advance ideas which will be against the Iron Curtain," Lavrov said.

Such concepts "evoke nostalgic feelings" among the British, he added.