MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/. Moscow has been registering brazen attempts by the West to use the situation in Ukraine to fuel anti-Russian sentiments across the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), but these actions will fail, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated in publicized comments on the results of Moscow’s diplomacy for 2022.
"We have been seeing absolutely brazen attempts by the West to use the situation in Ukraine to ignite anti-Russian sentiments across the CIS and drive a wedge between us and our good neighbors," the Russian Foreign Ministry said. "While showing an increasing tendency toward openly assertive ways, the West is not only making Russia’s friends and allies choose between `being with them or against us’, but they have also been seeking to undermine the multifaceted ties that unite us." The ministry criticized this as blatant interference in internal CIS affairs and attempts to manipulate public opinion and impose alien values and pseudo-democratic standards.
"We believe that these efforts are doomed to failure," Russia’s diplomatic agency emphasized.
According to the ministry, the majority of citizens in former Soviet republics can "decide on their own what is true." The Russian Foreign Ministry pledged to counter what it said was the West’s impudence with efforts to foster communication through political and diplomatic channels as well as cooperation in the economic and humanitarian spheres, while using "the entire arsenal of tools in the fields of education and culture, in the media and interpersonal interaction."
Cooperation with Central Asia
Central Asian countries are Moscow’s strategic partners and allies, the Russian Foreign Ministry added as it pointed to regular meetings between politicians and a growing economic and investment partnership.
"The volume of accumulated Russian investments in the region has exceeded $47 billion, and our trade with Central Asian economies increased by 16.2% in the first half of 2022 from the same period of the previous year to some $20 billion, despite destructive efforts by the West," the ministry said.
"Against this background, there is hardly any reason to talk about an increase in anti-Russian sentiments in Central Asia’s public opinion, no matter how much pro-Western NGOs and activists, being sponsored by the United States and the EU in some countries of the region, might want this to happen. As for the so-called routine nationalism toward Russian-speaking citizens, this has been a source of concern for us, and it has been met with an adequate response from local authorities," the ministry concluded.