Sergey Lavrov: Saving from Hell

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke at the 77th session of the UN General Assembly. Maria Zakharova said that representatives of different delegations were in a hurry to shake his hand, then there was a press conference. Two days earlier, on September 22, a meeting of the UN Security Council on Ukraine was held. Lavrov also spoke there, a correspondent for The Moscow Post reports.

He began his main speech on September 24 with the words that the moment is "difficult, dramatic," international security is under threat and threatens its selfish interests of the "golden billion" led by Washington. He concluded his speech by recalling: "the stability of the world order can be ensured exclusively through a return to the origins of UN diplomacy based on the key statutory principle of genuine democracy - respect for the sovereign equality of states."

Lavrov cited the words of the second UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld that the organization "was created not to bring humanity to heaven, but to save it from hell." In general, according to Lavrov, the situation is degrading. Russia is again at the center of the conflict between the West and the surrounding world.

A World Without Blackmail

Russia advocates an honest approach to discussions within the UN. This was confirmed by two days and three responsible events, including questions from journalists, to which the Russian minister did not answer on a "piece of paper." Behind all this is the belief that relations with the West will be able to return to the channel of predictability. Is a "world possible without blackmail and intimidation of the objectionable, without neo-Nazism and neo-colonialism?," Lavrov asked. Is the West ready for this?

His speeches in New York are some opportunity for Russia's partners to understand what Moscow's policy will be. "Some" because there are many different interests around which Russia should respond. The activities of the UN relate precisely to such an area beyond control. This does not mean that Washington does not want control over the UN.

Lavrov did not talk about the UN crisis, limited himself to calling it the "privatization of the Secretariat" of the organization. The Russian delegation said that this part of the UN may (or has already turned out to be) in the role of a "goldfish" from the fairy tale of A.S. Pushkin on the service of an "Anglo-Saxon old woman." Confrontation is imposed and promoted, solving many problems is postponed, approaches that do not coincide with Western ones are ignored. There is a question of "fair geographical representation of member states in the structures of the Secretariat," the minister said.

Lavrov did not pass by the problem of "the progressive decline of multilateral institutions, turned by the United States and its allies into tools for the realization of their selfish interests." In this regard, he recalled the UN Human Rights Council, UNESCO, OPCW, KBTO, promised to support the Counterterrorism Office and other UN anti-terrorist bodies.

The minister stressed that the unipolar model of the world is a thing of the past, the state of affairs in the field of international security is rapidly degrading, the conflict in Ukraine threatens a big war, and the "search for compromises" is opposed by "disinformation, gross staging and provocations" of the West.

"Given" visas in print are not watched

Washington and London, as the centers of Anglo-Saxon dominance over the Western world, do not want to yield to the "dominant heights" in general and positions in the UN secretariat, in particular. Take at least the issuance of visas for the Russian delegation at the session of the UNGA and for family members of the staff of the Representative Office of the Russian Federation. Visas are somehow "given" at the direction of the US State Department. In Geneva, Vienna, Paris, where UN organizations are located, they are not inclined to listen to an alternative point of view. And it seems that the Secretariat and the UN Secretary-General personally cannot do anything about it.

Lavrov spoke about the American blockade of Cuba. He recalled that the UN Secretary General is responsible for facilitating the implementation of the decisions of the General Assembly to lift the blockade. "He (the Secretary General) also has a special role in mobilizing efforts to overcome food and energy crises," the Russian minister continued.

Lavrov ended this part of the speech by recognizing the role of Antonio Gutteris in concluding the Istanbul agreements for the export of Ukrainian grain. The UN Secretary General also pledged to get the European Union and the United States to remove the "obstacles" to insurance of Russian ships with fertilizers and food.

Lavrov later added to this that "the poorest countries that are on the lists of the UN World Food Program only got a little, and then only in Burkina Faso and another country. The Europeans, whose attention we drew to the fact that almost half go to them, were told that they would then redirect this grain, including to African countries. Still, at least it somehow works. "

The Russian minister proposed "to seek a comprehensive ban on the placement of weapons in space, which is aimed at the Russian-Chinese draft international treaty under consideration by the UN Conference on Disarmament." He raised issues of "international information security" and "the use of information and communication technologies for criminal purposes."

Lavrov called the problems awaiting a solution, including the formation of a Palestinian state, overcoming the "NATO heritage" in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan, threats to Syria's sovereignty and reconciliation in Yemen, obstacles to the revival in the original form of the Joint Comprehensive Action Plan on the Iranian nuclear program, an integrated settlement of the problems of the Korean Peninsula.

The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry also recalled the alarming situation in Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Lavrov also called it alarming that Washington intends to give the "Monroe doctrine" global coverage, NATO rushed to Asia, the European Union is becoming a tough dictatorial entity, called it unacceptable that the Baltic countries have racist instincts, and Brussels indulges in discrimination against Russians in Latvia and Estonia.

Do not go to the Security Council "for tea"

Russia is a permanent member of the UN Security Council. At the session, the issue of expanding the composition of the Security Council was raised, Germany and Japan declared themselves official candidates. Sergei Lavrov recalled that the UN was created on the "wreckage of German fascism and Japanese militarism," that the organization's tasks were to prevent conflicts.

India and Brazil, Lavrov said, can also claim the role of permanent members of the UN Security Council "with the obligatory simultaneous increase in the profile of Africa." And he asked: "What new will any Western country bring to the UN Security Council if suddenly someone wants to accept it as a permanent member?" The answer was known - nothing!

Lavrov proposed to reaffirm commitment to the goals and principles of the UN Charter as the first necessary step towards restoring collective responsibility for the fate of mankind. To do this, in July 2021, a Group of Friends "from two dozen countries" was created in defense of the Charter, co-founded by Russia, in this regard named such organizations as the Non-Aligned Movement, BRICS, SCO, ASEAN.

He also spoke about the prospects for UN relations with the CSTO, CIS, EAEU "in order to combine efforts in the space of Greater Eurasia."

Where Nazism will no longer be

In the hall where the briefing of the Russian Foreign Minister was held at the end of the high-level week of the UN General Assembly session, there was no room left, some journalists had to stand.

It is clear that in the center of Moscow's concerns today is Ukraine and everything related to the course of a special military operation. These issues were discussed during Lavrov's press conference following the high-level week that followed the speech. In the issues to which the minister answered, referendums were touched upon in independent and liberated territories, the situation around the Ukrainian crisis.

It is clear that from the point of view of Moscow, referendums in the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics, as well as in the Zaporizhzhya and Kherson regions, are one of the steps towards stabilizing these territories, transferring their population to normal life, simplifying, from the point of view of Russia's interests, the situation around the crisis. In short, referendums and their results provide clarity on "what will no longer happen." There will be, as Lavrov said, "no atrocities of the neo-Nazi regime," but noted the "hysteria" of the West over referendums.

Lavrov explained: "The conclusion reached by the General Assembly regarding the interpretation of the UN Charter was as follows. All states have a duty to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of any states whose governments respect the principle of self-determination of peoples and represent all peoples living on their territory. " Ukraine does not fit into this definition. And Lavrov also called the Kyiv regime Nazi, which has no right to claim to represent the interests of people in eastern Ukraine. He did not say about other regions, only noted that Russia did not allow the Americans to climb their border.

US participant or accomplice?

Equally important was the interest of correspondents in the fact that Lavrov called Western countries "participants in the conflict" and how this could change the structure of Russia's relations with these countries. Lavrov said during a press conference a very important thing, namely that "our Western neighbors have racist instincts regarding Russia, as a country and as a nation," that they have a desire to dismember Russia so that "too independent geopolitical magnitude" disappears from the map of the world. This definition alone fundamentally changes the structure of relationships and their psychology for decades to come.

There are also material foundations for radical change. The space constellation used by the West to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine and nationalist battalions is approximately 70 military satellites and two hundred satellites of private companies, the Russian minister said. Americans, he said, have a say in the choice of goals. The Pentagon may recall this, but even without that, there is more than enough reason for change in relations. The United States is a party to the armed conflict.

Lavrov recalled the legal side of the case and said, remembered the Hague Conventions of 1907. And he said that "neither the United States nor Europe declared themselves a party to what is happening in Ukraine. If so, Article 6 of the maritime convention expressly prohibits the supply by neutral, that is, non-conflict states, of warships, ammunition and any property of any of the belligerents. "

The United States, the European Union and NATO supply weapons to Kyiv, have opened recruiting points and "cannot claim the status of neutral and not participating in the conflict," Lavrov summed up. "Two hundred private satellites, including, of course, the Starlink company, are directly involved in this war," and the United States is a party to the conflict.

Who laughs last

Will it be possible, as Lavrov suggested, "to cleanse the world organization of all confrontational and alluvial things, to return it to its reputation as a platform for honest discussions to find a balance of interests of all member states"? At the same time, he spoke about the decline of international organizations, called the West non-negotiable, which prompted Russia to start an SVO.

The Minsk agreements, approved by the UN Security Council, were "buried with the direct participation of the United States and the EU." Proposals to agree on the rules of coexistence in Europe, including the last of them, made in December 2021, were met only with an "arrogant refusal."

He also noted that "the Secretary General [UN] speaks a lot and comments on the situation around Ukraine almost daily, but I cannot remember that he also actively acts to implement the Minsk agreements."

"What is the reality that Russia's actions over the past decades have infringed on the interests of opponents?" Sergey Lavrov asked the question. And, not expecting an answer, he remembered the military-strategic "detente" of 1980-1990, the voluntary dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, Moscow's position on the reunification of Germany, the withdrawal of the armed forces from Europe, Asia, Latin America, the recognition of the independence of the former Soviet republics, and also remembered faith in the promises of Western leaders not to expand NATO.

"Maybe we violated the interests of the West, warning him about the unacceptability of approaching the threatening military infrastructure close to our borders?," Lavrov asked another question. I probably thought that this list of stages of the voluntary retreat of Gorbachev and Yeltsin from strategic positions in Europe would impress the delegations of NATO countries in the meeting room. No, he did not produce, Westerners sat, listened and imperceptibly, to themselves, smiled, forgetting that he smiles, as well as the one who does it last laughs well.

Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry