MINSK, October 26. /TASS/. Washington is waging a ‘crusade’ against all countries that seek to defend their independence and national interests, and the aggression directed against Moscow is just a part of it, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
"It is obvious that the West's aggression against Russia is only a part of the crusade of the US and its satellites against any member of the international community that demonstrates independence and defends its national interests," the top diplomat said in Minsk at the plenary session of a high-level conference on Eurasian security.
Lavrov pointed out that Washington and its allies are trying to create a long-term hotbed of tension in the Asia-Pacific region, which has already been openly declared by the West to be "NATO's zone of responsibility."
"The situation around Taiwan is being deliberately escalated. Various ‘narrow’ formats for military preparations are being put together with the participation of the Anglo-Saxons; I am referring to AUKUS [member states] and their obedient confederates. So-called Indo-Pacific strategies are being promoted that are aimed at containing China, isolating Russia and breaking up the open, balanced, consensus-based regional architecture around ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations - TASS)," the top Russian diplomat said.
He pointed out that the US has recently been particularly eager to expand its destructive influence in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, and continues to exacerbate the situation in the Middle East.