MOSCOW, June 28. /TASS/. Russia is offering a unifying agenda in international affairs and is open for a fair dialogue with those who is interested in the search for a balance of interest, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an article published in the Kommersant daily and the Russia in Global Affairs journal on Monday.
"Regardless of any ambitions and threats, our country remains committed to a sovereign and independent foreign policy, while also ready to offer a unifying agenda in international affairs with due account for the cultural and civilisational diversity in today’s world. Confrontation is not our choice, no matter the rationale," he noted. "We will always remain open to honest dialogue with anyone who demonstrates a reciprocal readiness to find a balance of interests firmly rooted in international law. These are the rules we adhere to."
He recalled Russian President Vladimir Putin’s words, who said in his article entitled Being Open, Despite the Past released on June 22, 2021 that it is senseless to be fixed on former mistakes, offences, problems or conflicts and called for ensuring security without division lines, for establishing a common space of equal cooperation and general development.
"This approach hinges on Russia’s thousand-year history and is fully consistent with the current stage in its development. We will persist in promoting the emergence of an international relations culture based on the supreme values of justice and enabling all countries, large and small, to develop in peace and freedom," Lavrov stressed.
The West doesn’t want to discuss issues of equality and democracy on the international arena and is afraid of maintaining an open dialogue with those who have different values and views, Russian Foreign Minister said. "While preaching equality and democracy in their countries and demanding that other follow its lead, the West refuses to discuss ways to ensure equality and democracy in international affairs," he noted. "The veil of its superiority conceals weakness and the fear of engaging in a frank conversation not only with yes-men and those eager to fall in line, but also with opponents with different beliefs and values, not neo-liberal or neo-conservative ones, but those learned at mother’s knee, inherited from many past generations, traditions and beliefs."
Such an approach is "clearly at odds with the ideals of freedom," Lavrov stressed. "It is much harder to accept the diversity and competition of ideas in the development of the world than to invent prescriptions for all of humanity within a narrow circle of the like-minded, free from any disputes on matters of principle, which makes the emergence of truth all but impossible. However, universal platforms can produce agreements that are much more solid, sustainable, and can be subject to objective verification.".
To divert conversation
Western countries are striving to divert the discussion of key issues into narrow-format groups, using the concept of rules-based world order, Russian Foreign Minister wrote.
"By imposing the concept of a rules-based order, the West seeks to shift the conversation on key issues to the platforms of its liking, where no dissident voices can be heard. This is how like-minded groups and various ‘calls’ emerge. This is about coordinating prescriptions and then making everyone else follow them. Examples include calls to foster ‘responsible behavior in cyberspace security’, ‘stand up for international humanitarian law’, and to form a partnership for the freedom of information. Each of these platforms brings together only several dozen countries, which is far from a majority, as far as the international community is concerned," he said.
According to the minister, the UN offers inclusive negotiation platforms on important international topics. "Understandably, this gives rise to alternative points of view that have to be taken into consideration in search of a compromise, but all the West wants is to impose its own rules," he said, adding that "the EU develops dedicated horizontal sanctions regimes for each of its ‘like-minded groups’ … without looking back at the UN Charter."
"This is how it works: those who join these ‘calls’ or ‘partnerships’ decide among themselves who violates their requirements in a given sphere, and the European Union imposes sanctions on those at fault. What a convenient method. They can indict and punish all by themselves without ever needing to turn to the UN Security Council. They even came up with a rationale to this effect: since we have an alliance of the most effective multilateralists, we can teach others to master these best practices. To those who believe this to be undemocratic or at odds with a vision of genuine multilateralism, President of France Emmanuel Macron offered an explanation in his remarks on May 11, 2020: multilateralism does not hinge on unanimity, and the position of those trailing behind should not be viewed by the international community’s proactive vanguard as an obstacle," Lavrov believes.
According to the minister, against global changes in the international arena, the question arises - which form of government is most effective for eliminating the threats that affect all people. "Political scientists are beginning to compare the available toolboxes used by the so-called liberal democracies and by ‘autocratic regimes’. In this context, it is telling that the term ‘autocratic democracy’ has been suggested, even if timidly," Lavrov noted. "These are useful considerations," Lavrov said, adding "Thinking and scrutinizing what is going on around us has never hurt anyone".
Lavrov noted that in order to form a multipolar international system, it is necessary to abide by the universally accepted norms and principles of international law, including respecting the sovereign equality of states, non-interference in their domestic affairs, peaceful resolution of conflict, and the right to self-determination. "Taken as a whole, the historical West dominated the world for five hundred years. However, there is no doubt that it now sees that this era is coming to a close, while clinging to the status it used to enjoy, and putting artificial brakes on the objective process consisting in the emergence of a polycentric world," he wrote.