MOSCOW. Oct 21 (Interfax) - Moscow understands that, irrespective of the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, it will always be a rival of Washington, yet it is ready for dialogue with Washington, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"Irrespective of the election outcome, we will still be if not an enemy than definitely an adversary for the United States. We will be a rival anyway," Lavrov said in an interview with the Argumenty i Fakty publishing house.
"The Americans view any international issue, any international interlocutor primarily from the angle of inadmissibility (as their doctrinal documents say) of anyone on this planet becoming stronger than the United States," he said.
The primary objective of the U.S. ruling class "is to prevent anyone from undermining their dominance," Lavrov said, adding, "That's an illusory objective."
"As to which U.S. candidate or party is more preferable for us, I can only say we should be prepared for the fact that the attack on our interests and actions aimed to restrain our development will continue under any administration," he said.
At the same time, "we are ready to work with any administration the American people will choose in the end, but only if this dialogue is based on mutual respect, on equality and on listening to and hearing each other," Lavrov said.
"For now, we are following the U.S. election campaign and see no sign of resuming this kind of dialogue," he said.
While commenting on U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump's statement on the need to resume dialogue with Russia, Lavrov said, "We will understand what this is about only when the new administration is sworn in and formulates its stance."
"Dialogue is the essence of diplomacy. We are ready for it on conditions that correspond to the purpose of diplomacy," Lavrov said.