The West’s refusal to accept its diminishing role is driving global instability, the Russian foreign minister has said
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov holds an annual press conference in Moscow on January 14, 2025. © Sputnik / Kirill Zykov Attempts by the West to suppress competition and protect its privileged position at any cost are the main drivers of international tensions today, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday. The top Russian diplomat spoke with domestic and international reporters in Moscow to outline the work of his department over the last year, and to answer questions about issues the country’s diplomats are dealing with. Lavrov described the source of the confrontation between the West and multiple other nations, including Russia, as a clash between the US and its allies on one side, who are attempting to force a poorly-defined “rules-based order” onto other countries, versus parties that respect the UN Charter as the foundation of the world order created following World War II. Essentially, the West wants to suppress any nation that does not submit to its policies or is better in any sphere, Lavrov stated. The ‘collective West’ – as Russia calls the US and nations that follow Washington’s orders rather than protect their own interests – is deluding itself by hoping that its post-Cold War dominance can survive, Lavrov said.
Read more ”Any sound politician should become aware that in the past 30 to 35 years times have dramatically changed,” the diplomat argued, adding that “the opposition to the diktat of the West” has now reinstated itself in new economic powerhouses. Dissenting nations, including China, India, and Russia, strive for a more just multipolar world order, Lavrov said. They want a system where players can compete with each other on a level field and respect each other’s interests, he added. The US, however, defends a system that gives it an unfair advantage and does not shy away from anything in doing so, Lavrov claimed. Washington issues sanctions “even against its own allies without the slightest hesitation, when they start thinking that someone else would produce something cheaper and be more efficient at international markets,” he added. Washington’s methods are not unlike those of the ruling Communist Party in the USSR, which “decided everything on its own and just sent down its orders,” Lavrov asserted. Lavrov cited deindustrialization in the EU following the economic bloc’s decoupling from Russian supplies of cheap energy as an example of the US harming its loyalists for its own benefit. “They [the Americans] in a headlong manner gave a go-ahead to perpetrate terrorist attacks that destroy the energy wellbeing of the EU and they prod the Ukrainian clients now to take out the TurkStream as well,” the diplomat said.
Read more Gas pipelines built to carry Russian fuel under the Baltic Sea to Germany were destroyed in September 2022 by explosions. Moscow says the US had most to win from that, since it cornered the European liquefied natural gas market thanks to it. Investigators in the EU have failed to identify the culprit, but Western media reports have claimed that the Ukrainian military was behind the bombing. Germany’s meek acceptance of the damage to its economy was exemplified by the virtual silence of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Lavrov said. This week, the Russian military reported a Ukrainian drone attack on a compressor station, which pumps gas under the Black Sea to Türkiye and several consumer nations in Europe. Nations not aligned with the West are facing humiliation, when they try to appeal to Washington, Lavrov claimed. He cited Serbia and recent demands by the US to expel Russian capital from its energy industry. The manner in which the US leaned on the Russian traditional ally was obnoxious, the minister said, calling it a “trademark feature” of the administration of President Joe Biden. The outgoing Democrat seems to be trying to “slam the door” on his way out of office as hard as he can to prevent president-elect Donald Trump, a Republican, from approaching Moscow diplomatically, the Russian minister stated. Barack Obama played the same trick at the end of his second term in 2016 with expulsions of Russian diplomats and seizure of Russian diplomatic venues, he reminded the audience. Lavrov was asked to comment on Trump’s intention to buy Greenland from Denmark, a proposal that Copenhagen has thoroughly rejected. He said that considering the island’s autonomous status, Greenlanders feasibly have a right to self-determination under the UN Charter, as do other peoples. They would not necessarily vote for parting ways with Denmark and, if they do, they may opt for independence rather than join the US, Lavrov pointed out. Russia “listened to the opinions of the residents of Crimea, Donbass and Novorossiya, to find out what the attitude to the regime that came to power in an unlawful coup d’etat [in Kiev in 2014] was” Lavrov said, referring to referendums in which people in formerly Ukrainian regions voted to break away from Ukraine and join Russia. Lavrov suggested that the current proxy war between the US and Russia is reminiscent of past attempts to conquer Russia by the likes of Hitler and Napoleon. The diplomat mentioned President Joe Biden’s recent assertion that the United States has successfully recruited 50 countries to assist Ukraine. “In reality, the fight is against Russia,” Lavrov said, stating that there are “obvious” parallels between this confrontation and the attempts of Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler to take over Russia after having subjugated dozens of European countries. Lavrov observed that President-elect Donald Trump and members of his future administration have repeatedly mentioned addressing the root causes of the Ukraine conflict and acknowledging the realities on the ground when discussing ways to resolve the hostilities. “The fact that the real situation on the ground is now mentioned more frequently is commendable,” the diplomat said. He noted that Trump’s statements are effectively the first time a major Western leader has honestly admitted that NATO had repeatedly lied when signing various documents with Moscow to continue expanding towards Russia’s borders. The minister added that although Russia has not yet received any specific initiatives from the American side, it will be open to studying any proposals for resolving the conflict once Trump takes office later this month. Lavrov stated that unlike other continents, such as Latin America and Africa, Eurasia – the biggest, richest, and most densely populated one – does not have a unified body for its entire territory. Instead, it has subregional organizations and structures but not “one shared roof which would bring us all together.” The Russian diplomat explained that currently, organizations like the OSCE, NATO, and the European Council are effectively under the control of the US and are only committed to Euro-Atlantic security. “NATO and Washington, first and foremost, want the entire Eurasian continent to be part of the Euro-Atlantic model” in the political and military sense, Lavrov said, suggesting that security on the continent cannot be upheld in such conditions. Lavrov suggested that Eurasia should continue its development based on the interests of the countries within the continent, rather than from a Euro-Atlantic perspective. He stated that it would be beneficial to establish an organization that represents the entire continent. Lavrov was asked what part the European Union and countries like Germany could play in future Ukraine peace talks. The diplomat responded that “with all due respect to the history of the German people,” he believes that they have “already made their contribution through Chancellor Merkel’s office and administration,” referring to the Minsk agreements which were supposed to be backed by Germany and France. The agreements were designed to stop the hostilities between Kiev and separatist forces in Donbass that refused to accept Ukraine’s new US-backed authorities following the 2014 Maidan coup. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was one of the signatories of the accords, has since publicly admitted that neither Berlin, Paris, nor Kiev ever intended to honor the agreements, which were signed only to give Ukraine more time to prepare for war with Russia. Lavrov added that even in recent private conversations with Putin, Germany’s current chancellor Olaf Scholz “has not said anything that he hasn’t publicly said every other day” and has not even mentioned the root causes of the Ukraine conflict, such as the attacks on the Russian language and people.
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