RIO DE JANEIRO: During their summit in Rio de Janeiro, members of the BRICS group of nations talked at length about Ukraine, with all parti...
RIO DE JANEIRO: During their summit in Rio de Janeiro, members of the BRICS group of nations talked at length about Ukraine, with all parties involved gaining a greater understanding of the root causes of the conflict, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has told reporters.
Lavrov also commented on the NATO "mutiny" and Russia’s readiness to help Iran refill its depleted uranium stocks.
Below are top Russian diplomat’s key remarks made after the BRICS summit.
Ukrainian crisis
- BRICS members are sympathetic to Russia’s position in the Ukraine conflict: "During their speeches, many [BRICS] participants voiced their position on the situation in Ukraine. All positions were weighed and unbiased, showing a growing understanding about the root causes of this crisis." Lavrov reiterated that the crisis in Ukraine "was caused by the West’s long-term threats to our country’s security, including NATO’s eastward expansion with the obvious goal of absorbing Ukraine and deploying NATO’s war machine directly at our borders."
Problems within UN, NATO
- Lavrov believes the UN Security Council’s current seat distribution is unfair and skewed in the West’s favor: "The West undeservedly holds a disproportionate number of seats, misaligned with today’s global balance of power."
- There is a mutiny brewing inside of NATO amid internal strife: "Differences are growing there, with risks of a kind of impending mutiny on the ship because more and more countries want to be guided by their own national interests, and not to be told what to do by their ‘boss’."
- NATO’s expansion "has not done anyone any good, including the Alliance’s members."
IAEA’s responsibility to Iran
- The Secretariat of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should provide Iran with guarantees that it will act strictly in line with its mandate and not allow itself to be manipulated by powerful countries: "We are adamant that the Secretariat should provide some sort of guarantees that in the future it will comply with its mandate in the strictest way possible, and will avoid publishing reports that could be used to politicize and promote the unilateral interests of certain members."
- The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should accept responsibility for its dubious assessments of Iran’s nuclear program, which he said escalated the military conflict: "The IAEA management should accept responsibility for the assessments that it had published, which it published in the past and which were submitted to the IAEA Board of Governors just days before the start of the aggression. Many described these assessments as dubious, and unlike the secretariat’s previous reports they could be interpreted in a way suggesting that Iran is not complying with its obligations in full."
Terror attacks in Russia
- Those guilty of attacks on railway infrastructure in Russia will be held accountable. Russia is dealing with the matter on its own, with no involvement from international organizations: "As far as the investigation and bringing those responsible to justice is concerned, we are now not trying to attract international attention to the matter. We are dealing with it on our own, including the Prosecutor General’s Office and public organizations. No one will escape justice."
- Lavrov described terror attacks on rail infrastructure and civilian trains as "heinous deliberate acts."
Helping Iran’s nuclear program
- Russia has technological solutions for uranium depletion and is ready to work with Iran in this field: "As far as Russia is concerned, we are not talking about mediation here. <…> We have technological capacities and we are ready to offer them, taking the excess of overly enriched uranium and returning the power-generation-grade uranium to the Islamic Republic and its nuclear facilities."
BRICS work
- A BRICS currency for payments between members is not now, nor has it ever been on the table: "With regard to payments as such, the creation of a currency has never been discussed in BRICS."
- There is no threat of "erosion" in BRICS, and the organization is only just getting started: "I see no threat of erosion for our activities. <…> On the contrary, we’ve only started to tap our potential.".
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