Russia responds to Obama, 'We won't be isolated'

(ANSA) - Moscow, January 21 - Russia's foreign minister on Wednesday denied that Western countries could isolate Moscow, following US President Obama's remark in his state of the union address Tuesday that "Russia is isolated, with its economy in tatters".
    In his annual press conference reviewing Russian diplomatic and political relations, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said attempts to isolate Moscow won't bring results.
    "Russia will never follow a path of self-isolation," Lavrov said.
    Lavrov invited the US to return to "constructive cooperation" based on "respect for reciprocal interests".
    "Moscow doesn't want and won't permit a new cold war," he said.
    Lavrov also said that eastern Ukrainian rebels of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics have agreed to withdraw heavy artillery from the contact line separating them from Kiev's troops.