MOSCOW, March 14. /TASS/. Russia, unlike Western countries, never allies itself against anyone and never condescends to anyone, the country’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, said at the opening ceremony of the Founding Congress of the International Movement of Russophiles.
"We never ally ourselves against anyone. Look, amid this current period of fierce hybrid warfare, we aren’t forcing anyone to choose sides. The countries of the Global South, the global majority, are perfectly capable of drawing their own conclusions," he stressed.
"We are all grown-ups, so let’s try not to look down upon anyone, as our Western colleagues do, publicly demanding that everyone, including countries that represent some of the most ancient and greatest civilizations, follow their orders," Lavrov continued. "And, this stands in stark contrast with what Western civilization is becoming, this civilization that is obsessed with its own greatness, with its exceptional status, and that is now in fact fighting for its life, trying, by hook or by crook, to maintain, or just struggling to hold on to, its hegemony on the global stage, which it sees slipping away."