MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/. The West’s hostile actions to restrict Russia's rights in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) are akin to connivance with international terrorism, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the plenary meeting of the G20 Ministerial Council on counter-terrorism, digital transformation, humanitarian assistance and disaster risk reduction in New Delhi on Friday.
"The West is destroying the unity of the global counter-terrorism front. The last example is the hostile actions to limit Russia's rights in the FATF, which is essentially akin to conniving with international terrorism. We are convinced that anti-terrorist response requires the rejection of ‘double standards’ and ‘hidden agendas.’ The suppression of this indisputable evil cannot be made a hostage of opportunistic considerations and bloc approaches," Lavrov said. A transcript of his speech was released by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday.
Lavrov noted that the world economy today was trapped in a web of serious challenges, many of which were of geopolitical nature or exacerbated by international confrontation.
"In particular, this is true of the sensitive topics raised by the Indian chairmanship: terrorism, drug crime and natural disasters. Appropriate responses to these dangerous phenomena should be developed on specialized platforms, primarily the UN," he added.
Lavrov blamed the upsurge of terrorism largely on external interference by the West in the internal affairs of sovereign states.
"Iraq, Libya, Syria and Afghanistan have become victims of armed adventures and neo-colonial claims. The results are obvious: ruined statehood, rampant terrorist groups, growing drug threats, the impoverishment of the population and the degradation of human rights. Dangerous instability in the Middle East is also fueled by the lack of any progress in resolving the Palestinian problem," Lavrov said.