The contours of the future are taking shape in a struggle between a majority of states which advocate civilizational diversity and more equitable distribution and a handful of others which “use neocolonial methods of subjugation to maintain their domination”, declared the head of Russian diplomacy during the general debate of the General Assembly.
He accused Americans and Europeans, accustomed according to him, to despising the rest of the world, of multiplying promises and contracting binding obligations, before evading them. The West is a veritable “empire of lies,” he said, borrowing an expression from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
After having accused the United States and the “Western Collective which is subordinate to it” of having sought confrontation with the USSR then, after the end of the Cold War, of having betrayed the assurances given to Russia in matters of European security architecture, Mr. Lavrov recalled that in 2021 Russian proposals aimed at agreements on mutual security guarantees in Europe without changing Ukraine’s non-aligned status were arrogantly rejected.
NATO expansionism
He accused the West of continuing to systematically militarize the Russophobic regime in Kiev, brought to power following a bloody coup and used to prepare for the launch of a hybrid war against Russia.
Saying he had the persistent impression that this “collective West” had decided to give the Monroe Doctrine a global projection, Mr. Lavrov denounced as a new dangerous manifestation of NATO expansionism the attempt to extend the zone of responsibility of the bloc to the entire Eastern Hemisphere under the slogan of “the indivisibility of the security of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific region” and through the creation of a series of openly “miniature military-political alliances” focused against his country and China, and threatening the inclusive regional architecture developed around the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The States of the world no longer want to live under orders but exchange on an equal footing, affirmed Mr. Lavrov, who denounced an artificial division of humanity into hostile blocs due to the conflicts generated by the United States and the “Western collective”, which hinders the achievement of common objectives. “They are doing everything to prevent the formation of a truly multipolar and just world order,” he asserted.
However, the logic of the historical process is inexorable, said Mr. Lavrov, who highlighted in particular the role of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and other associations which offer the countries of the South of the opportunities for common development and defend their rightful place in the objectively emerging multipolar architecture.
Democratization of world affairs
“For perhaps the first time since the creation of the UN in 1945, a true democratization of world affairs exists,” said the minister, seeing it as a source of optimism for all those who believe in the supremacy of international law. and wish for the rebirth of the UN as the central coordinating body of world politics.
Mr. Lavrov accused the West of continuing to view itself as superior to the rest of humanity. He denounced the use of unilateral coercive measures as a flagrant violation of the principle of the sovereign equality of States, “cornerstone of the world order created after the Second World War”, demanding in particular the lifting of those which strike Cuba and Syria. He again accused NATO of destroying the Libyan state, opening the floodgates to the spread of terrorism in the Saharan-Sahel region and waves of millions of illegal migrants in Europe.
Mr. Lavrov also denounced “the selfishness of the Western minority”, illustrating it by its “obsessive attempts to ‘Ukrainize’ the international agenda” by pushing other unresolved regional crises to the background, particularly in the Middle East, he said, the Palestinians have been waiting for more than seventy years for the state that was solemnly promised to them.
Mr. Lavrov then compared and contrasted the West’s broken commitment to provide developing countries with $100 billion per year to finance climate change adaptation programs and the $170 billion spent since February 2022 by the United States, NATO and the European Union to support the “racist Kiev regime”.
He considered that the enlargement of the Security Council, “increasingly demanded” should be done by eliminating the under-representation of the countries of the world majority, adding that the new members, permanent or not, should enjoy the authority both in their region and within global organizations such as the Non-Aligned Movement, the Group of 77 or the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
He also called for “more equitable methods” for forming the UN Secretariat, affirming that the criteria in force do not reflect the real weight of States in world affairs and artificially ensure a “prohibitive domination” of the citizens of the countries of the world. NATO and the EU.
This article is originally published on news.un.org
