Lavrov argued that Beijing confronted the leaders of NATO and defended the principle of indivisibility of security, and advocated its application on a global scale to prevent anyone in the world from claiming its exclusivity. “This approach fully coincides with Russia’s position,” Lavrov said.

According to the foreign minister, the most devastating consequences for contemporary international relations were the “games” played by the West in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) after the end of the Cold War, of which it “considered itself the winner.”

Lavrov recalled that, despite the attempts of the United States and its allies to expand and violate Europe’s security, Russia continued its diplomatic efforts by offering (the latest attempt being in December), “to enshrine the same principle of equality and indivisibility in a legally binding treaty”.

However, the response from the West was “a categorical refusal.” “They said bluntly: there will be no legal guarantees outside of NATO. In other words, the Western commitment to the political documents adopted at the OSCE summits turned out to be a cheap farce,” he said.

The Foreign Minister recommended that Western countries “return back to earth from their world of illusion”, and stated that it is time to “play fair, not as cheaters, but on the basis of international law”.

Lavrov assured that the sooner the whole world realizes that there is no alternative to objective historical processes regarding the formation of a multipolar world, based on respect for the principle of sovereign equality of States, fundamental to the Charter of the United Nations and the entire world order, it will be better.

The Minister argued that it is time for NATO to stop forcing those who want to live sensibly to join in by threatening and blackmailing them: “it is time to recognize the right to freedom of choice of independent countries that respect themselves,” Lavrov remarked.

pgh/llp/mem/odf