PERM, May 22. /TASS/. The West cannot accept Russia being an independent actor on the world stage, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at the plenary session of the second International Public-Political Hearings on the Formation of a Contour of Equal and Indivisible Security and Cooperation in Greater Eurasia.
Lavrov also said attempts at armed confrontation with Russia have always ended badly for Europe.
TASS compiled the key statements by the foreign minister.
Western aggression against Russia
- The West cannot accept Russia as an independent actor and a civilizational alternative: "The West, just as it did 200 and 100 years ago, cannot accept Russia as an independent actor and civilizational alternative."
- Western attempts to portray Russia as "the main evil in Eurasia and the world" are "extremely dishonest" and have "no prospects whatsoever."
- Europe will repeat the mistakes of the past if its elites maintain their course toward armed confrontation with Russia: "This has always ended badly for Europe. It will not end differently in the future."
- Russia is taken aback that Finland "has abandoned all decency" associated with its neutral status: "Helsinki has now become one of the leading anti-Russian voices, as if it had been waiting for this moment all along."
- French President Emmanuel Macron’s idea of a European Political Community is aimed at confronting Russia: "This is the essence of Macron’s idea of a European Political Community, which recently met in Yerevan and openly promotes the isolation of Russia and Belarus, with neither country invited into any European community."
- Western countries are "seriously promoting the idea of creating a new military alliance, a counterpart to NATO" in Asia, which he described as a direct threat to Russia’s legitimate interests.
Focus on Eurasia
- All destructive Western initiatives in Eurasia are directed against Russia, China, Iran, Belarus, North Korea, and other states pursuing independent policies: "All their [Western] initiatives in Eurasia are aimed against Russia, China, Iran, Belarus, North Korea, and other countries pursuing independent domestic and foreign policies that the West views as rivals."
- The US and NATO military infrastructure is spreading across Southeast and Northeast Asia "at a rapid pace."
- The nuclear dimension introduced into expanded military exercises by the United States, South Korea, and Japan is creating "additional serious irritants" in the region.
Multipolar world
- Russia rejects claims that multipolarity inevitably leads to confrontation and global chaos: "We disagree with those ideological opponents who claim that multipolarity, or polycentrism, inevitably means confrontation, unavoidable conflicts, and even global chaos."
- Supporters of such forecasts likely want to preserve the unipolar order and continue living at others’ expense: "I do not know what drives the authors of such forecasts, perhaps the desire to stop what they see as the wonderful moment of unipolarity, prolong it forever, and continue living at others’ expense."
- The current stage of global development creates "broad opportunities for equal cooperation and solving key global problems": "It is impossible to ignore the fact that multipolarity is emerging naturally through the inherent development potential of states and their associations."
Middle East crisis
- The Middle East will remain unstable until the Arab-Israeli conflict is resolved "in all its dimensions, including the most painful one - the Palestinian issue."
- Russia strongly opposes "renewed armed aggression" against Iran and forceful interference in its affairs.
- Lavrov said "the aggressive course relying on crude force," demonstrated during the US-Israeli aggression against Iran, "has nothing to do with ensuring regional stability or the interests of nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction," as claimed by "those who unleashed war in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf region."
- Renewed fighting in the Persian Gulf would have "comprehensive negative consequences" for the region and the world.
- Israel’s actions against Palestine contradict both UN resolutions and US President Donald Trump’s peace initiative: "Israel’s actions contradict not only the well-known UN resolutions on a Palestinian-Israeli settlement based on the two-state solution, but also the Board of Peace proposed by Trump."
- Direct constructive dialogue between Gulf Arab monarchies and Iran is necessary to ensure stability and predictability in the Middle East: "The future and security of the region depend on the ability of countries here to overcome confrontation provoked from outside."
Ukraine settlement
- Only a lasting settlement addressing the root causes of the Ukraine conflict can prevent a recurrence of the crisis: "Both historical experience and common-sense demand not only the elimination of threats to Russia’s security regarding the Ukrainian crisis, but also an end to the Kiev regime’s destruction of anything connected with our civilization and our nation, including the Russian language, Russian education, culture, media, and canonical Orthodoxy."
- If this is not achieved, a lasting and stable settlement cannot be guaranteed, nor can a recurrence of the crisis be ruled out, Lavrov added.