Lavrov accuses West of forming new blocs and poisons: "Wants to destroy and dismember Russia"

Created: 09/25/2022, 06:15

By: Marcus Giebel

A bad look at the West: Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov likes to play the victim role at the UN General Assembly.

© IMAGO / ITAR-TASS

The Ukraine war also overshadowed all other issues at the UN General Assembly.

Sergey Lavrov used his appearance to settle accounts with the West.

Munich - Sergei Lavrov knows what is expected of him when he speaks to the world public.

It's about defending the hard line of his boss Vladimir Putin against any criticism - no matter how rational it is.

And that is why the Russian foreign minister is justifying the Ukraine war, which has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions and provoked either an energy crisis or a hunger crisis in much of the world.

So it was no surprise that the 72-year-old used the general debate at the UN General Assembly in New York City to go on the offensive, in the spirit of the Kremlin boss, and to pour more oil into the increasingly frequent confrontation with the West to pour fire.

Lavrov at UN General Assembly: According to Russian Foreign Minister, West wants “confrontation between blocs”

“Under the slogan of a rules-based order, the West is introducing dividing lines everywhere that amount to a confrontation between blocs: you are either with us or against us,” Lavrov said, according to the translation.

A third option is not possible, there are no compromises.

In doing so, the Putin confidante is playing on the solidarity that the USA, Germany and other partners are looking for with as many nations as possible in order to put Russia under pressure because of the campaign in Ukraine and ultimately to isolate it in order to get the Kremlin to give in move.

Especially when it comes to sanctions against Putin and his power apparatus, the world is far from speaking the same language.

A hook is enough answer: With such slips of paper, the referendums in the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine are carried out.

© IMAGO / SNA

Lavrov and the Ukraine war: "West wants to destroy and dismember Russia"

But Lavrov went even further, accusing the West of wanting to bring about the end of Russia: "They are no longer even embarrassed to openly declare that there is an intention not only to inflict a military defeat on our country, but to destroy Russia, to dismember.” Tough stuff.

At least in the case of Putin, the sting of the collapse of the Soviet Union still seems to be running deep.

But that's not all, Lavrov specifically took on the USA, which in his interpretation would only support Ukraine with military aid in order to use the country as "material in the fight against Russia".

It is the old accusation of a proxy war, in which the two former great powers are actually confronting each other as they did during the Cold War - one with their troops, the other with their war equipment.

There is no hope of an end to the conflict anytime soon.

Video: Meeting between Baerbock and Lavrov at the UN General Assembly burst

also read

Ex-oligarch warns the West: In this scenario, "Putin will be at the NATO border tomorrow"

"Milk cows of the nation": Shortly before the relief summit, Scholz received an angry fire letter from Bavaria

Escalation in the Ukraine war: What would be the consequences of a Ukrainian attack on annexed areas?

The Kremlin seems to have already triggered the next level of escalation anyway: In the course of a partial mobilization, 300,000 additional soldiers are to be prepared for their deployment at the front.

In addition, Russia is trying to use mock referendums to integrate the occupied areas of Cherson, Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhia in the south and east of Ukraine into its own state - presumably so that if the Ukrainian army advances further, it will be Russian attack national territory.

Putin himself may not even know what the answer would be. After all, he has been flirting with the use of nuclear weapons since the beginning of the war.

Many countries had already declared that they would not recognize an annexation of southern and eastern Ukraine by Russia.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres even spoke of a violation of international law.

Lavrov's reaction?

He dismissed the criticism as an "outburst of anger" from the West, assuring that residents of the affected regions were only taking "their land where their ancestors have lived for hundreds of years".

Lavrov and Baerbock: No talks in New York - Russia blames the EU

So no further trace of insight.

It is fitting that an apparently planned meeting between Lavrov and his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, fell through.

The Russian side blamed the EU delegation for this, which had “disappeared from the radar” after a date had been proposed.

The exchange was apparently about the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest of its kind in Europe.

The site is said to be in the hands of the Russians, and reports of hostilities there not only alarmed opponents of nuclear power plants.

Here, too, all that remains is to wait and see and hope that reason will prevail at some point.

In any case, Lavrov delivered what Putin may have expected from this appointment.

This is once again a bad sign for Ukraine.