MOSCOW: The current stage of international affairs should now be viewed as a new Cold War; it would be more correct to describe current glo...
MOSCOW: The current stage of international affairs should now be viewed as a new Cold War; it would be more correct to describe current global trends as the process of creating a new multipolar world order, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview to Indonesia’s Kompas newspaper.
"We do not define the current phase of international relations as a new Cold War. The issue at hand is different and is about something different, namely, the formation of a multipolar international order. This is an objective process. Everyone can see that new globally meaningful decision-making centers are strengthening their positions in Eurasia, the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America," the top Russian diplomat said.
In his words, countries and associations that comprise such centers "promote values such as national interests, independence, sovereignty, cultural and civilizational identity and international cooperation."
"In other words, they are fully within the global development trend and are, as a result, going from success to success," Lavrov added.
The minister emphasized that the US-led collective West is trying to slow these processes in an attempt to maintain its hegemony, thus undermining global food and energy security and complicating things for the developing countries.
"Enormous amounts of money that could have been spent on promoting international growth, including on helping the countries that are most in need, are being burned up in the form of thousands of tons of military equipment and ammunition supplied to Ukrainian neo-Nazis," he said.
"However, this coin has a brighter side. Western egocentrism and disregard for the interests of the Global South and Global East encourage the latter to look for alternative cooperation formats across all areas. The seizure of Russian gold and currency reserves in the United States and Europe have led the international community to realize that no one is immune from expropriation of tangible assets that are kept in Western jurisdictions," Lavrov explained.
In his words, not just Russia, but a number of other countries are consistently reducing their dependence on the US dollar and transitioning to alternative payment systems and payments in national currencies.
"At the same time, the effectiveness of country associations without Western participation is on the rise. The SCO and BRICS are a case of modern multilateral diplomacy without leaders or followers where decisions are made based on consensus. We welcome Indonesia’s interest in strengthening cooperation with these associations, which undoubtedly have a great future," Lavrov added.
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