RIO DE JANEIRO, February 21. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has arrived in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, the final stop on his tour of Latin America, a TASS correspondent reported.
While in Brazil, Lavrov will take part in a two-day meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of 20. Earlier, the top Russian diplomat visited Cuba and Venezuela.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Lavrov was expected to hold numerous bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the event. According to Zakharova, in his address to the G20 meeting, Lavrov will clarify Russia’s assessment of global challenges and the steps that need to be taken to solve global problems.
"We will speak out against attempts to militarize international economic relations, use hybrid warfare, undermine the sovereignty and independence of counties, and interfere in their domestic affairs. We will also emphasize the need to ensure the rule of international law and its basic principles enshrined in the UN Charter, and resume the practice of making collective decisions with all the interested countries based on consensus and the search for common ground," Zakharova noted.
This year, Brazil holds the G20 chairmanship. Zakharova pointed out that the meeting would be dedicated to pressing international issues "with a focus on resolving geopolitical contradictions and reforming global economic institutions."