MOSCOW, May 24. /TASS/. The situation in the world is becoming less stable amid the West’s attempts to preserve its dominance and impose its rules; however, there is an alternative to this destructive course: a system of joint and indivisible security, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the participants in the XI International Meeting of High Representatives for Security Issues.

This year, the meeting’s participants, which included Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergey Naryshkin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik discussed, in addition to international security and the formation of a multipolar world, issues of NATO expansion, the West's struggle against Russia via Ukraine, as well as pressure from the US and Europe on the countries of the Global South and the Middle East.

Representatives from over 100 countries and six international organizations took part in the meeting this year.

TASS has gathered the main theses of the statements made at the meeting.

On world order

"The international situation can be described in terms of mounting instability. Different regions are seeing old hotbeds of tension expand and new ones emerge, the negative burden of conflicts is piling up, and people in many countries are experiencing the dramatic aftermath of foreign-engineered coups," Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

Western countries seek to "preserve their dominance and impose their rules as they continue to act in complete disregard of other countries’ sovereignty, national interests and traditions." The West has also triggered energy and food crises and is trying to use them for its own benefit.

However, there is a "workable alternative" to this: a system of single and indivisible security that ensures economic, technological and social progress. According to the Russian president, building a more just multipolar world can only be achieved together.

However, Western countries cannot participate in ensuring global prosperity and security - their "immense pride" has closed off such a possibility, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergey Naryshkin said. "It’s appropriate to recall a biblical truth: they will be repaid according to their deeds. That means that their end will be sad."

According to him, humanity has some "difficult times" ahead, as "the Euro-Atlantic elites are not inclined to voluntarily give up on world dominance." However, Russia has retained a margin of safety and strategic strength.

Individual states are trying to use the pretext of protesting democracy to substitute the existing world order based on international law with an artificial rules-based order, Chen Wenqing, member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, said. The geopolitical divide continues to expand, and conflicts and other traditional security threats emerge constantly, as well as non-traditional threats, such as those related to energy and food. China, for its part, opposes all forms of hegemonism and interference in the domestic affairs of other countries.

NATO expansion

"In essence, NATO’s reckless expansion reflects the same intentions that undergirded the Hitlerian doctrine of ‘Drang nach Osten’ (German for ‘Drive to the East,’ which was the Nazi slogan justifying the conquest of Central and Eastern European lands — TASS)," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

President Milorad Dodik of Republika Srpska pointed out that this is NATO’s first major eastward expansion since the aggression unleashed against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999, which "is the greatest factor [sparking] instability in the international security system since the Cold War."

Europe's dependence on US

Western sanctions against Russia have threatened Europe's energy security, as it is now forced to follow the US. However, EU countries still have no alternative to Russian oil and gas. "By doing so, they directly damage their economic systems," Dodik pointed out, adding that the EU "is now, in fact, a vassal of the United States." Russia, unlike the West, does not impose its policies on other countries.

Situation in Ukraine

The West is pumping Ukraine with weapons in its fight against Russia, but a majority of the arms are "spreading uncontrollably around the world," Lavrov pointed out.

Thus, NATO countries are actually participating in the conflict on the side of Ukraine, which increases the threat of a direct military clash between the nuclear powers. Russia sends signals to the West that such a scenario is unacceptable, but they are ignored or distorted for propaganda purposes. At the same time, the West only raises the stakes, because "the attempt to break Russia using Ukrainian neo-Nazis has become an indivisible part of their general policy toward the revival of a unipolar world order."

The president of Republika Srpska also said that the Nazi ideology is a tool for the West in its fight against Russia. However, according to him, Nazism's resurgence, especially in Ukraine, is a challenge to global security.

Western actions towards Global South

The West intentionally provokes interstate and interethnic conflicts in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The most recent example of such Western policies is the situation in Sudan. The West seeks to further exploit Africa's richest resources, and the US "is unnerved when these countries pursue independent, autonomous policies," Lavrov said.

At the same time, there is a growing demand in the region for reliable security guarantors. Russia, as well as China, India, and Iran, can meet Africa's need for mutually beneficial and equal cooperation, Naryshkin said.

Middle East

Trust in the Middle East is growing, while the credibility of the US is sharply declining. According to Naryshkin, Washington is blaming its mistakes in the Middle East on Russia and is getting ready for an information war with Moscow.

The agreement reached in March of this year on the restoration of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia is causing "an extremely sensitive reaction in the US and the UK," he pointed out. Meanwhile, the normalization of Saudi-Iranian relations is an important step towards strengthening peace and security in the region.

Naryshkin advised the Anglo-Saxons to deal with their domestic civil conflicts, "or better yet, to go to hell, where they belong."

He also drew attention to the fact that the US continues to exert pressure on Syria, essentially occupying part of it. The US is using the Al-Tanf military base on the border of Syria, Jordan and Iraq to train militants of the Islamic State (IS, outlawed in Russia) for carrying out subversive acts not only in Syria, but also in Russian regions."

As Lavrov pointed out, the West is creating obstacles to counterterrorism cooperation, although threats continue to pop up. The most serious challenges are still "to come from IS, Al-Qaeda (both terrorist organizations are outlawed in Russia - TASS) and other terrorist groups.".