NEW YORK, Sep 23 (Aljazeera) - Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called the West an “empire of lies” and accused it of adopting a neo-colonial mindset in its overtures to the Global South to win backing for Ukraine in the war.
Speaking after a week of intense global diplomacy at the annual gathering of world leaders at UN headquarters in New York, where Ukraine and its Western allies sought to drum up support for Kyiv as it fights against Russia’s invasion, Lavrov said a “global majority” was being duped by the West.
“The US and its subordinated collective continue to fuel conflicts which artificially divide humanity into hostile blocks and hamper the achievement of overall aims,” Lavrov said.
“They are trying to force the world to play according to their own self-centred rules.”
James Bays, Al Jazeera’s diplomatic correspondent, said Lavrov’s speech was part of a “tour around the world of Russia’s views” that contained no real mention of Ukraine and few indications of Moscow’s plan one year into the conflict.
During a news conference following the speech, the foreign minister dismissed a 10-point proposal put forward by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as the latest UN proposals to revive the Black Sea grain initiative.
“It is completely not feasible,” he said of the peace blueprint promoted by Kyiv. “It is not possible to implement this. It’s not realistic and everybody understands this, but at the same time, they say this is the only basis for negotiations.”
He also said the UN proposal would not fly because the West did not deliver on its promises to Moscow, including removing sanctions on a Russian bank and reconnecting it to the global SWIFT system.
The February 2022 invasion of Ukraine triggered trade disruptions and significant increases in international prices for energy, agricultural commodities, and fertiliser, which were already elevated due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Russia’s foreign minister placed the blame for the crises in the food and energy markets on Western nations, who impose “unilateral coercive measures” – or sanctions – on weaker ones.
Lavrov’s speech came as Zelenskyy awarded two Polish volunteers state awards during a stopover, as relations between the two countries are strained over grain imports. He did not meet with any officials.
Zelenskyy angered his neighbours when he told the UN General Assembly that Kyiv was working to preserve land routes for grain exports, but that the “political theatre” around imports was only helping Moscow.
Poland decided last week to extend a ban on Ukrainian grain imports, shaking Kyiv’s relationship with a neighbour that has been one of its staunchest allies since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year.
Zelenskyy thanked all Poles who “from the first days opened their families, their homes, opened themselves up and helped”.
“I believe that any challenges on our common path are nothing compared to the fact that there is such strength between our people,” he said.
