Lavrov Slams West’s Attempts to Pass Off Its Rules as Benchmarks as Futile

Sergey Lavrov made the comments following a meeting of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Lavrov stressed that Moscow favors the prevalence of international law.

The minister said, "Since the signing of the Helsinki Final Act in 1975, our Western partners have continually talked about urging and demanding Moscow to respect international law. None of our Western colleagues are speaking about this any longer. Everyone says: we call for respect for the rule-based world order."

"In the UN, where everyone is represented, where all views are at the negotiating table, including those that do not coincide with Western ones, it is necessary to negotiate there, it is necessary to seek the same balance of interests there. What the West does is that it gathers in a close circle, takes an issue on the UN agenda, but discusses it and imposes these very rules without any dispute, without any discussion. As you know, controversy served the cause of truth. That’s why attempts to fabricate these rules, disguise them as benchmarks, and impose them on others are absolutely futile," Lavrov added.

The Russian top diplomat stressed that only agreements endorsed by all countries can last.

"For some time, it is still possible to turn a blind eye to this, forcing countries influenced by the West to sign some appeals and declarations, but this will not have any sustainability, since only agreements reached with the participation of all states will be valid for a long time," the minister said.