Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at the general meeting of the Russian International Affairs Council
Moscow, November 20, 2018
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Mr Ivanov,
Colleagues, friends,
Thank you for inviting me to the annual general meeting of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC). Our dialogue in this format has become a good tradition. I recognise so many familiar faces all around me.
The Foreign Ministry highly appreciates our fruitful cooperation with RIAC, which is a key Russian research centre and brain trust dealing with international matters. A combination of your members’ intellectual capabilities is especially important today. I doubt that we need to speak in detail about the current international situation. President Vladimir Putin devoted a large part of his remarks to this topic at the conference of ambassadors and permanent representatives of Russia in July this year and also on other occasions.
The international fever has not gone down since then. The historical West is still violently opposed to the objective rise of a fairer and more democratic polycentric world order. Clinging to the principles of unipolarity, Washington and some other Western capitals appear unable to constructively interact with the new global centres of economic and political influence. A wide range of restrictions are applied to the dissenters, ranging from military force and unilateral economic sanctions to demonisation and mud-slinging in the spirit of the notorious “highly likely.” There are many examples of this dirty game. One of them is the idea of giving the power of persecution to the OPCW Technical Secretariat in gross violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and the UN Security Council privileges as well as contrary to the opinion of the majority of CWC states.
This has seriously debased international law. Moreover, attempts have been made to replace the notion of law with a “rules-based order” the parameters of which will be determined by a select few.
We are especially concerned about the activities of the US administration aimed at destroying the key international agreements. These include withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action known as the Iran nuclear deal, the declared intention to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF Treaty), an open line for revising the settlement principles in the Middle East, as well as sabotaging the Minsk Agreements on overcoming the internal Ukrainian crisis. The trade wars that have been launched contrary to the WTO principles are rocking the global economic architecture, free trade and competition standards. The US establishment, blindly believing in the idea of their exceptionalism, continues to appoint rivals and adversaries, primarily among the countries that pursue an independent foreign policy. Everyone can see that Washington is a loose cannon, liable to act incongruously, including regarding Russia where any steps taken by US President Donald Trump to develop stable and normal channels of communication with Moscow on the biggest current problems are promptly blocked by those who want to continue or even strengthen the destructive approach to relations with Russia, which developed during the previous US administration.
Overall, it looks as if the Americans and some of our other Western colleagues have forgotten the basics of diplomacy and the art of dialogue and consensus over the past 25 years. One result of this is the dangerous militarisation of the foreign policy thinking. As RIAC Director General Andrey Kortunov recently pointed out at a Valdai Discussion Club meeting, the Clausewitz formula can be changed to a mirror image, “Politics is a continuation of war by other means.”
Russia is a consistent supporter of the development of international life based on the principles of the UN Charter. We are a serious obstacle in the way of different destructive undertakings. Maybe this is why we are accused of so many “mortal sins” and presented as a “revisionist” power. In reality, we are being punished for our independent foreign policy and our renunciation of the actions of real revisionists that are aimed at the unilateral revision of the norms of interstate communication as written in the UN Charter and the basic instruments of international law that they would like to replace with their own rules.
We oppose these trends with a creative international agenda and put forward uniting initiatives aimed at the effective resolution of common urgent problems – from the creation оf a global antiterrorist coalition to the establishment of a Eurasian architecture for peace, security and comprehensive cooperation to the ensuring of a system of equal and indivisible security in the Euro-Atlantic Region. We facilitate the political settlement of many crises and conflicts, in particular, in Syria. It is largely owing to our efforts that a resolute blow was dealt to the terrorists in that country. The disintegration of its statehood was prevented and conditions were created for the return of refugees and political stabilisation in accordance with the decisions of the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi on January 30 of this year. Let me emphasise once again that this is exactly where the guarantors of the Astana process negotiated the realistic terms for implementing UN Security Council Resolution 2254 with the participation of the delegations of the Syrian Government and the opposition.
The overwhelming majority of states share Russia’s positions on interstate communication. They consider Russia a reliable guarantor of global stability and a balance in the world order that is now taking shape.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin has emphasised more than once that we will uphold our sovereignty, ensure national security and defend Russia’s honour and dignity in any course of events. We will continue pursuing peace-loving neighbourly foreign policy and will remain open to constructive cooperation with our foreign partners in all geographical areas and in any format based on mutual respect, predictability and negotiability. This fully applies to the United States, the West as a whole and such agencies as the EU and NATO, all the more so since many countries in Europe realise the futility of this line towards confrontation with Russia that has been imposed on them.
I am convinced that common sense will eventually prevail. We will probably never be absolutely the same. There will always be differences in our approaches to these and other problems. But let us uphold our positions through dialogue rather than threats and ultimatums. Let us compete in good faith.
Colleagues,
Today the role of qualitative analytical support for Russian foreign policy is tangibly increasing. I am pleased to note that the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), which has established itself as an effective instrument on the second track of Russian diplomacy, is making a large contribution to the resolution of this task. The range of issues on its agenda is being expanded. Most materials are practical and required in daily activity.
We are grateful for efforts to explain the Russian position to the foreign public at large. I would like to mention its work on the internet that has allowed it to significantly increase its audience, as I understand it, to three million people. The Council is stepping up its media activities and enhancing its prestige as a high quality source of information on international relations and the foreign policy of the Russian Federation.
The Council is distinguished for its cooperation with its foreign partners. It has established and is broadening its partnership in different parts of the world, including the CIS, the Asia and Pacific Region, BRICS and the SCO countries, the Middle East and Southwest Asia. We appreciate your efforts to facilitate the creation of an atmosphere of trust and mutual understanding in the Euro-Atlantic Region. We hope you will make a similar contribution in Latin America and Africa.
The Council’s educational activities, its role in the training of experts in international relations and the promotion of student exchanges have received broad recognition. We support its dialogue with the youth and the use of the creative potential of promising young researchers.
The RIAC’s activities in the outgoing year, which are likely to be discussed today, deserve high marks. It is based on the professionalism of its members and their efforts to achieve tangible results.
I would like to wish you further success.
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