MINSK, June 20. /TASS/. The West sees the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) as a threat to its dominance in the international arena, which explains why it has been trying to split its ranks, as well as to breed discord within the BRICS group (Russia, Brazil, India, China and South Africa) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the media after the meeting of heads of delegations participating in the CSTO Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) session with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
"We noted that this organization, as well as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS are considered by the West as a threat to its dominance in the international arena, as the emerging centers of a future multipolar world order, which the West sees as a threat to its interests and its hegemony," Lavrov said.
"In this regard, we also observe the West's vigorous and aggressive actions to split the CSTO members, as well as the BRICS group, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and other organizations independent of it, including attempts to resort to some dishonest methods to drive a wedge between members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization," said Lavrov.
He said that the two sides had an hour and a half-long conversation with the president of Belarus. Alexander Lukashenko explained his vision of the situation in the world, which was in line with common actions and furnished the basis for the further development of the CSTO. The participants in the meeting came to the conclusion that it was necessary to resist the pressure of the West and to fully implement the allied obligations and strengthen solidarity.
"The president of Belarus stressed that this is required, in his opinion, which we share, not only by the allied moral duty, but also by purely pragmatic interests. Ultimately, we all have to live together within the CSTO, within the Commonwealth of Independent States, within the Eurasian Economic Union and, of course, within the Union State, and solve our problems together. We are destined to live side by side with each other," Lavrov concluded.