West using India for devious anti-China, Russia plot: Lavrov

India-China-Russia triangular relations have found a new twist. Alleging that the West is trying to restore a now-abandoned unipolar model of the world, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused the West of trying to use India in its “persistent and devious” policy against China and Russia to undermine their privileged relations.Addressing a meeting of the Russian International Affairs Council in Moscow on December 10, Mr Lavrov said that “India is currently an object of the West’ persistent, aggressive and devious policy as they are trying to engage it in anti-China games by promoting the so-called ‘Quad’ while at the same time attempting to undermine our privileged relations with India.” “Obviously, it is trying to restore the unipolar model of the world,” he said.

Mr Lavrov alleged that the US is putting tremendous pressure on New Delhi in the Military Technical Cooperation (MTC) area so that it could have its way and make “poles” like China and Russia remain subordinate to the West. The “game” of the US-led West is to postpone the Russian and Chinese progress and restore the unipolar world “by any means possible”. But Russia will not cow down under pressure and will continue to “promote a unifying agenda”, Mr Lavrov said, adding that forums like G20, BRICS, and G7, where it has significant influence, still offer hope of counter-balancing the vicious policies of the West. “The G20 is the only mechanism outside the UN Security Council where it is still possible to come to terms based on a balance of interests,” the Russian minister said.

“Our official contacts with the West have been frozen by the West; I will not explain why since this is common knowledge. This is the line towards the prevalence of the unipolar approach. They believe that ‘arrogant Russia’ has been ‘isolated’ and ‘punished’,” Mr Lavrov said. Therefore, the current situation makes the role of political scientists and experts much more important. “We value the efforts of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) because it supports our foreign policy and diplomatic work. The stable trend towards a regular dialogue with our Chinese and Indian colleagues is growing stronger. Besides, we have established fairly serious contacts with our African partners,” the minister noted.

Although the world has been overwhelmed by crises and conflicts, the COVID-19 pandemic has made it worse and has done tangible damage to the global economy. State borders are still closed or subject to different restrictions and human contact has been disrupted in all spheres. Still, it is possible to counter the virus, “but our Western partners have egoistically tried to exploit the predicament to maximize their profits as they have done for many years”. “The European Union (EU) has given up its claims to be a pole in the multipolar system. Germany’s recent policies convince us that this is exactly what it wants to do, preserving its claims to full leadership in the EU. France has a somewhat different position; it wants to claim this role, we will have to wait and see what happens”.

Rules-Based Order?

The West, however, justifies its policies with the “notorious concept of a rules-based order”. These rules are invented on the go at various get-togethers that earned the praise of the US, which adopted the sanctions mechanisms for alleged chemical and cyber-hacking violations. They are creating them without bothering to address the universal bodies under the UN, which is going through hard times because “the West is doing everything to discredit them”.

“We do not agree with this approach. We are convinced that no matter how difficult it may be to work within universal organizations where the entire spectrum of opinions, sometimes opposite opinions, is being presented, the only sustainable agreements are those that have been agreed upon by all states without exception, including irreconcilable opponents. After all, the parties agreed on Iran’s nuclear program although their positions were volatile,” Mr Lavrov added.

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