MOSCOW, December 11. /TASS/. US President Joe Biden, who announced plans to commit $424 mln for assisting other nations in strengthening democracy, actually seeks to form a fund for interference in the domestic affairs of countries, Deputy Speaker of Russia’s Federation Council (the upper house of parliament) Konstantin Kosachev wrote on Facebook on Saturday.
"At the recent summit, US President Biden announced the launch of the Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal, which involves the allocation of $424 mln to support countries loyal [to Washington]. It is already clear that in fact, a fund for interference in the internal affairs of disloyal states is being formed," Kosachev pointed out.
"The idea certainly was not to just review forces in the run-up to the upcoming fight for democracy. It was about convincing the world that those who oppose the unilateral world order actually oppose democracy. It is quite a simple manipulation but it serves an important ideological mission aimed at camouflaging the geopolitical causes of the current crisis as those related to values," the Russian senator emphasized.
According to him, the way that participants were chosen for the summit was based on geopolitics. "It is foreign policy that was the focus rather than the domestic one, it was about being loyal to America," Kosachev stressed. "It is a perfect signal to all the pseudo-democracies in the world: proclaim a policy guided by the West, vote the right way in the United Nations and you will be allowed to do whatever you will at home," he added.
On December 9-10, Washington hosted a video conference dubbed the Summit for Democracy. The 110 countries and territories that the US authorities invited to the summit did not include China, Russia, Turkey, Egypt and a number of other states. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov earlier slammed the event as one of the most odious US projects aimed at dividing countries into democratic and non-democratic ones.