Russia says disputes over Iran, Greenland and Canada distract from Palestine

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the US of trying to distract global attention from Palestine.

Commenting on the situation in the Middle East in an interview with RT India TV channel, Lavrov said ongoing US-provoked disputes involving Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, Greenland and Canada were distracting international attention from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"All of the efforts that are being taken right now on Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, Greenland, and now Canada ... all of these issues are moving us away from settling the most protracted, the most negative crisis in the world – that is, the crisis around Palestine," he said.

The minister criticized American proposals regarding the future of the Gaza Strip, saying they did not address the establishment of a Palestinian state.

"I have no doubt that when plans to stir up aggression against Iran were being hatched, one of the goals was to prevent the normalization of relations between Iran and the Arab states," he said.

He added: "Now, everything is being done to ensure that reconciliation never happens ... and to pull its other Gulf neighbors into structures that, first, will not focus on resolving the Palestinian issue, and second, will force them to betray the Palestinian cause as the price for normalizing relations with Israel."

Lavrov argued that failure to create such a state would prolong instability and extremism in the region for decades.

“We are returning to a period when everything is decided by force and international law is ignored,” Lavrov said.

- India, Pakistan tensions

Commenting on tensions between India and Pakistan, Lavrov suggested that external actors may be contributing to fanning the disagreements, arguing that Western countries are not interested in deeper Eurasian integration within frameworks such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

"The West would prefer that countries in the region remain preoccupied with disputes among themselves rather than focus on the task we discussed today – the development of Eurasian continental integration. Such integration does not align with Western interests," he said.

The foreign minister also highlighted the long-standing military-technical partnership between Russia and India. He noted that cooperation had evolved from arms sales to joint production projects, including BrahMos missiles, Kalashnikov rifles and licensed production of T-90 tanks in India.

“India’s defense capability is an area of our relations where we have practically no secrets from our Indian friends,” Lavrov said.