🎙 Highlights from Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's remarks and answers to media questions at a joint news conference following talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi (Tehran, 19 October 2026) • Energy prices We did not initiate the process of destabilising the global energy market. It was started by the Europeans and the Joe Biden administration when they decided to phase out Russian energy supplies. The EU continues to maintain to this day that it will pursue this policy. • Ukraine We are primarily fighting for the rights of our people in all spheres, including religion and language. We are fighting for the rights of Russians and people of Russian culture, including those who remain in territories controlled by Zelensky. • Iran We analysed the aftermath of the unprovoked aggression by the US and Israel against Iran. I reiterated our country’s readiness to help find negotiated solutions that are mutually acceptable in order to resolve this artificially created crisis. It is important to restore the situation in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz to how it was before the crisis, including by restoring freedom of navigation and ensuring guarantees that such aggression will not happen again. • Palestine With regard to a Middle East settlement, the key priority is to step up efforts on the Palestinian issue, which is currently at the bottom of the international agenda and is being stripped of all substance, with UN resolutions on the establishment of a Palestinian state being hollowed out. Read in full