THE COLLECTIVE West is using the dirtiest of tricks against Moscow and Beijing in a bid to maintain its hegemony, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.
His remarks came in a video address to participants in an international conference dubbed ‘The Role of Public Diplomacy in the Establishment, Recovery and Development of Russia-China Relations’, to mark the 65th anniversary of the Russia-China Friendship Association.
‘Today, the collective West is frantically trying to maintain its hegemony, using utterly unscrupulous methods of geopolitical engineering against Russia and China, whom it has picked as its main adversaries,’ the top Russian diplomat noted.
But despite this, Moscow and Beijing maintain close foreign policy coordination.
‘Ties between Moscow and Beijing are one of the key factors in democratising international relations and establishing a more just multipolar world order,’ Lavrov emphasised.
The Russian foreign minister also pointed out that firm support for these efforts by the general public remained an important tool for improving the large-scale system of bilateral cooperation.
‘The activities of our politicians and diplomats would have been less effective without the support of public diplomacy.
‘Its contribution to the promotion of the unbiased image of our countries and the popularisation of each other’s best achievements in the fields of science, culture and art is relevant and weighty,’ Lavrov stressed.
Russian-Chinese relations are the best example of relations great powers can have, China’s Charge d’Affaires in Russia, Sun Weidong, told the Russia-China Friendship Society conference.
‘President Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed that the most important thing in relations between countries is a feeling of sympathy between their peoples.
‘Sino-Russian relations are among the most important bilateral relations in the world.
‘They also represent the best example of relations between great powers that share the highest degree of mutual trust and the highest level of cooperation.
‘These relations have the highest strategic value,’ he said.
Sun also noted that in the development of Chinese-Russian relations, people’s diplomacy has always been vital in strengthening relations between the two countries.
And Lavrov reiterated this pointing out that bilateral interaction between Moscow and Beijing has now reached unprecedented heights.
‘During six and a half decades, regardless of the political environment, the Association has consistently facilitated the bolstering of bilateral, particularly interpersonal, contacts.
‘Its leaders and members included prominent state officials, diplomats and members of the scientific and cultural elite.
‘In both word and deed they were contributing and continue to significantly contribute to supporting and strengthening friendship and mutual understanding between the two nations.
‘Such productive efforts deserve deep respect. Especially since nowadays interaction between Russia and China has reached unprecedented heights,’ he told the conference.
‘A course towards expanding it fully complies with the interests of our citizens.
‘It is hard to overestimate the role of our leaders who set the tone to further boost the strategic partnership, regularly compare notes and lay out new ambitious tasks before us,’ he added.
Lavrov emphasised that Russian-Chinese cooperation is based ‘on the principles of equality, mutual trust and respect, consideration for each other’s interests as well as on coinciding or substantially close approaches to pertinent contemporary issues.
‘Despite the unstable global situation, trade and economic interaction is steadily developing.
‘Deals concluded in the spheres of investment, industry, transportation and other areas are being consistently implemented.
‘The strategic partnership on energy is strengthening. Last year, the volume of bilateral trade reached an all-time high, surpassing $140 billion.
‘We are expecting new record highs at the end of the year,’ the Russian foreign minister noted.
Meanwhile, in a separate development, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzya, said at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Sunday that the crisis in Ukraine was sparked by the West’s disregard for the crimes of neo-Nazis.
‘At this point, the focus should be on improving the situation that led to the crisis that we are going through.
‘It did not begin with Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, it was sparked much earlier, as for eight years, the West has been turning a blind eye to the crimes of Ukrainian neo-Nazis in Donbass,’ he pointed out.
Nebenzya stressed that those Western countries participating in Sunday’s UN Security Council meeting had ‘failed to offer one word of compassion to the Donbass residents.
‘It is homes in Donbass, destroyed by Ukrainian troops and nationalists, that Western media outlets are now shamelessly passing off as the consequences of our military operation in Ukraine,’ he noted.
Also speaking on Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov warned that the United States is interested in weakening Europe in the military sphere and in its de-industrialisation.
His comment came in an interview for the film: ‘A World on the Verge. Lessons of the Cuban Missile Crisis’, which was posted on the ministry’s website on Sunday.
‘More and more economists, not only in Russia but in the West, are arriving at the conclusion that the United States is seeking to totally deplete and de-industrialise Europe’s economy.
‘Germans are relocating a great number of their production lines to the United States with all the consequences for the long-term competitive ability of the European Union that come with that,’ he noted.
‘It is also in Washington’s interests to weaken Europe in military terms, to keep it on its toes, to make it flood Ukraine with weapons and replenish weapons arsenals of European Union countries with American supplies.’
Washington’s policy is based on selfish economic interests and ideological superiority complexes, he said.
‘Europeans are already suffering from the economic sanctions much more seriously than the United States,’ Lavrov said adding:
‘The current situation around Ukraine is similar to the period of the Cuban Missile Crisis, as we are talking about direct threats to Russia’s security right on the country’s borders.’
When asked how similar the situation of the times of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the current situation around Ukraine are, Lavrov stressed that ‘there are similarities, both in 1962 and now.
‘We are talking about creating direct threats to Russia’s security right on our borders.
‘But today it is even closer than the Jupiters (medium-range ballistic missiles) located in Turkey. There is a military campaign to pump Ukraine with all kinds of weapons,’ the top diplomat pointed out.
Russia has not yet seen any willingness by the US and its satellites to show responsibility and wisdom to resolve the situation around Ukraine, he said.
Commenting on the similarities between the situation of the period of the Caribbean crisis and the current situation in Ukraine, the minister also pointed out the differences.
‘The difference is that back in 1962, (then Soviet leader Nikita) Khrushchev and (US President John) Kennedy found the strength to show responsibility and wisdom, but now from Washington and its satellites we do not yet see such willingness.
‘There are plenty of examples. To begin with, the chance for negotiations that presented itself in late March at the meeting in Istanbul was ruined, as we can now assert, on direct orders from Washington,’ Lavrov stressed.
Russia is always ready to listen to its Western colleagues if they offer to organise a conversation on detente taking into account Moscow’s interests.
‘We are always ready to listen to our Western colleagues if they make another request to organise a conversation.
‘I hope, that in addition to reproducing contacts through diplomatic departments … they will be able to offer some serious approaches that will contribute to de-escalating tensions and fully take into account the interests of the Russian Federation and its security,’ he said.
‘The readiness of Russia, including its president, to negotiate (on Ukraine) remains unchanged.
‘We will always be ready to listen to what proposals our Western partners have to de-escalate tensions.
‘So, if we are approached with some realistic proposals based on the principles of equality and respect for each other’s interests, aimed at finding compromises and balancing the interests of all countries, of course we will react, as we always have,’ Lavrov said.
