Lavrov: West is 'Empire of Lies' - 23.09.2023, Sputnik Africa

The United States of America and European countries often take on obligations and do not fulfill them, the West is an "empire of lies," said Sergey Lavrov speaking at the general debate of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

"Accustomed to looking down on the rest of the world, Americans and Europeans often make promises, take on commitments, including written and legally binding ones, and then simply fail to fulfill them. As [Russian] President Vladimir Putin noted, the West is a real 'empire of lies,'" the minister said.

The Russian foreign minister went on to say that the task of inflicting a "strategic defeat" on Moscow has finally "blinded the eyes" of Western politicians. As an example, he cited recent exercises by the United States and its European NATO allies to test the use of nuclear weapons against Russia.

He stressed that the joint drills that involve the use of nuclear weapons on the territory of Russia, among other things, has been "unprecedented" since the end of the Cold War.

"A series of recent joint exercises between the United States and European NATO allies, including scenarios involving the use of nuclear weapons on the territory of Russia has been unprecedented since the end of the Cold War," Lavrov said during his address at the UN General Assembly.

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Global South on the Rise

Lavrov underlined that the West praises and encourages NATO's expansion in the Asia-Pacific region, but sees the expansion of BRICS as a threat to its dominance. The minister recalled that French President Emmanuel Macron has recently expressed "sincere concern" about the expansion of BRICS.

Lavrov stressed that "the world's minority is trying with all its might to slow down the natural course of things," but "the logic of the historical process is inexorable."

"The main trend is the desire of the world's majority states to strengthen their sovereignty and defend their national interests, traditions, culture and way of life," the minister said, adding: "They no longer want to live under someone else's dictation, they want to be friends and trade with each other, but also with the whole world – only on equal terms and for mutual benefit."

Lavrov pointed out that such associations as BRICS and the SCO are now on the rise. According to the minister, they "provide the countries of the Global South with an opportunity to jointly develop and defend their worthy place in the emerging multipolar architecture." He stressed that "a new world order is being born before our very eyes."

The United States and its allies should recognize the real economic and financial weight of the Global South countries, the diplomat added. Lavrov emphasized that there is an urgent need to reform the existing global governance architecture as soon as possible as it has long failed to meet the requirements of the era.

"The United States and its allies should abandon artificial restraints on the redistribution of voting quotas in the IMF [International Monetary Fund] and the World Bank, recognizing the real economic and financial weight of the countries of the Global South. The work of the WTO [World Trade Organization's] Dispute Settlement Body should also be immediately unblocked," the minister noted.

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According to Lavrov, the inability to negotiate and refusal to accept the principles of equality has long become the West's trademark of sorts. The West continues to fuel international conflicts that artificially divide humanity into hostile blocs and prevent the achievement of common goals. He noted that the Western nations are doing "everything to prevent the formation of a truly multipolar, just world order."

NATO's Military Expansion Creates Risks of New Tensions

At the same time, the Russian foreign minister underscored, NATO's military development of the Asia-Pacific region, which is directed against Russia and China, creates risks of a new hotbed of tensions.

"A new dangerous manifestation of NATO's expansionism includes attempts to extend the bloc's area of responsibility to the entire Eastern Hemisphere under the deceitful slogan of 'the indivisibility of the security of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific region' [...].The overt orientation of such efforts against Russia and China, towards the collapse of the inclusive regional architecture that has developed around ASEAN [the Association of South East Asian Nations], creates the risk of the emergence of a new explosive hotbed of geopolitical tension, in addition to the already heated European [hotbed]," Lavrov said.

In particular, he noted that Russia is concerned by the fact that the US and its allies are escalating the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

"The escalation of military hysteria by Washington and its Asian allies on the Korean Peninsula, where US strategic capabilities are accumulating, is alarming. Russian-Chinese initiatives to prioritize humanitarian and political tasks are rejected," he stated.

West Destabilizing South Caucasus

The European Union and the United States are destabilizing the region of the South Caucasus, trying to enforce their mediation upon Armenia and Azerbaijan, the minister further elaborated.

"Now Brussels is imposing its 'mediation services' on Azerbaijan and Armenia, bringing destabilization to the South Caucasus together with Washington," the top Russian diplomat said at the UN General Assembly.

Now that the leaders of Yerevan and Baku have resolved the issue of mutual recognition of the sovereignty, he said, the time has come for peaceful life, for its establishment, for the strengthening of trust between the two nations. He added that Russian peacekeepers will contribute in every possible way to the deescalation and establishment of peaceful life in Nagorno-Karabakh.

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A Call to Prevent New Major War

Moreover, the Russian foreign minister called on the international community to prevent a new major war from breaking out.

"Today, as many times in the past, humanity is again at a crossroads. It is up to us alone to determine how history will unfold. It is in our common interest to prevent a descent into a major war and the final collapse of the mechanisms of international cooperation created by generations of predecessors," Lavrov said.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has proposed the initiative of holding the Summit of the Future next year, the minister said, adding that the success of this undertaking can be ensured only through the formation of a fair balance of interests of all member countries, while respecting the intergovernmental nature of the organization.

On West's 'Concerns' Over Coups & Conflicts in Africa

The collective West is "nervous" about the latest events in Niger and Gabon, although it supported the 2014 "bloody coup" in Ukraine, the Russian diplomat recalled.

"Observing the nervous attitude of the West to the recent events in Africa, in particular in Niger and Gabon, it is impossible not to recall how Washington and Brussels reacted to the bloody coup in Ukraine in February 2014 – one day after an agreement on a settlement under EU guarantees was reached," the minister said, adding: "The United States and its allies supported this coup and hailed it as a 'manifestation of democracy.'"

According to the minister, the development of the situation in Sudan is nothing more than "another consequence of the West’s failed experiments with the export of liberal democratic dogmas." He stressed that Russia supports constructive initiatives aimed at a speedy resolution of the intra-Sudanese conflict, primarily by facilitating direct dialogue between the warring parties.

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He also touched upon the political situation in Libya, expressing his hope that the Libyan people, with the assistance of the UN, will be able to prepare general elections in "their long-suffering country, which for more than ten years has not been able to recover from the consequences of the NATO aggression."

Lavrov noted that the latter "destroyed the Libyan state and opened the floodgates" for the spread of terrorism in the Sahara-Sahel region and for the waves of millions of illegal migrants to Europe and other parts of the world.