NEW YORK, March 28. /TASS/. The West should give the attempts to use the human rights doctrine to play geopolitical games, Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov said in an interview with the Newsweek magazine that was published on Monday.
"I am convinced that the attempts to use the human rights doctrine to play geopolitical games destroying sovereignty of States and to justify Western political, financial, economic and ideological dominance should cease," Antonov said ahead of the upcoming Summit for Democracy. "In today's complex and turbulent world, it is important to protect and preserve such fundamental principles of international accord as sovereign equality and non-interference in the affairs of other states.
"This would be a true manifestation of democracy and would prevent a slide into chaos. Russia is ready for such work," he continued.
According to Antonov, "the protection of democracy and human rights should not be used as an instrument of putting pressure on others, especially undesirable countries." The politicization of these issues, the diplomat said, "results only in the increased tension in international relations.
"Efforts to eliminate the imperfections can only be universal, but not based on coalitions with a slogan "who is not with us is against us," the ambassador added.
"Russia has been consistently following the democratic path taking into account its historical experience and traditions," Antonov said.
Moscow opposes "the imposition of gender-oriented approaches and LGBT agenda as well as drug-liberalism, the cult of consumerism and overindulgence—to the detriment of family values."
"Still, we do not impose our own views on others," he said.
The second Summit for Democracy is set to be held virtually from March 29-30 and will be co-chaired by Zambia, South Korea, Costa Rica, the Netherlands and the US. Vedant Patel, a principal deputy spokesperson at the US Department of State, told reporters on Monday that the participants of the summit will discuss a broad range of issues including the situation around Ukraine.
The first Summit for Democracy was organized by the US and was also held virtually. The US invited 110 countries and territories to participate. They included the Chinese island of Taiwan, but not the PRC. Russia, Turkey, Egypt and some other countries weren’t invited either. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the event primarily brought together the countries that follow in the wake of Washington's policy, as well as some of those which, while having their own vision of the world order, want to maintain good relations with the United States. The US previously said the countries that would be invited to the second summit will be roughly the same as the ones that took part in the first event.