Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the West of targeting his country in an “all-out hybrid war,” stressing that Russia would counter the sanctions by forging deeper partnerships with China, India and other countries.
According to the Reuters news agency, it marked the 80th anniversary of the occupation of Ukraine. In his speech yesterday (Saturday), Lavrov pointed to the West’s barrage of sanctions against Moscow, saying:
“The whole West has declared to us an all-out hybrid war. Although it is difficult to predict how long this war will last, it is clear that its repercussions will be felt by everyone without exception. We did everything to avoid a direct conflict. But now there is a challenge, and of course we accept it. We are no strangers to sanctions. They’ve almost always been there one way or another.”
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Lavrov said the sanctions, which included the confiscation of almost half of Russia’s $640 billion foreign reserves, were proof that no one was safe from expropriation and “state piracy” and that countries needed to reduce their economic dependence on the US and its allies. “Not only Russia, but other countries are also reducing their dependence on the US dollar, western technology and markets,” Lavrov said. Noting that the West’s efforts to isolate Russia are doomed to failure, Lavrov stressed that Russia’s relations with China are currently at their best and that his country is developing a special strategic partnership with India. Returning from a trip to the Middle East, Lavrov stressed the importance of ties with Egypt, Algeria and the Gulf states, as well as with Asia, Africa and Latin America.
According to Russia Today (RT), Lavrov said there was an organized campaign to expel hundreds of Russian diplomats from Western countries, adding, “Even in the darkest years of the Cold War, nothing like this was seen.” Referring to the arms exports of Western countries to the Ukrainian government, Lavrov said that Western countries are “ready to fight Russia there until the last Ukrainian.” The backbone of Russian diplomacy has signaled that this tense situation is a comfort for the United States, which is managing events in Ukraine from behind the ocean, weakening Europe and allocating its markets to U.S. military goods, technologies and products. At the same time, he admitted, the situation is more complicated.
“We, the United States, China and all other countries, understand that it is being decided today whether the world order will be truly just, democratic and multipolar, or whether this small group of states, as those who trust the international community to be exceptions and who have to fulfill the wishes of the elected officials, can impose the division of the world into two according to the neo-colonial order,” Lavrov said. He also warned that the West supports the idea of handing over control of the global economy to the G7.
Commenting on Europe’s policies, Lavrov said the European Union (EU) had “finally given up on the signs of independence for the benefit of the United States” and bowed to the influence of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which “increasingly talks about its global ambitions” on security issues. He warned that talk of a ‘global NATO’ confirmed that a NATO ‘line of defence’ would be shifted to the South China Sea.
