MOSCOW, January 15. /TASS/. An increasing amount of countries are wagering on boosting their military power to ensure their sovereignty as a result of the decline in the system of international law, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters at an annual news conference on Monday.

"We are witnessing a devaluation of international law, and the diminishing role of multilateral institutions. We are also seeing more and more countries banking on boosting their military power, which is seen by them as almost the sole guarantee of preserving their sovereignty under current conditions," he said.

Russia’s top diplomat noted that all this is happening due to the fact that the United States and its allies "still want to handle matters solely on the basis of dictating and putting forward ultimatums. (They) do not want to hear the viewpoints of other global policy centers and, actually, do not want to recognize the reality of the emerging multipolar world."

"The methods they resort to, to contain their rivals are, for the most part, rather dubious and unscrupulous," the minister went on to say. "Their range is wide - from deploying a global missile defense system to unilateral sanctions, extraterritorial use of their legislation and threats to tackle any international issues in accordance with their own scenario exclusively, stopping at nothing, including the use of brute military force.".