'NATO making overtures to create problems in India-China relations'

MOSCOW: NATO is attempting to make overtures to India to create additional problems in India's relations with China. Their battle cry is indivisibility of security in the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a news conference on the performance of Russian diplomacy in 2022 in Moscow on Wednesday.

"NATO is not limited to organising life on the European continent. NATO's Madrid Summit declared that the military bloc had a global commitment, specifically in relation of the Asia-Pacific region, which they call the Indo-Pacific region. It is clear that they are attempting to make overtures to India to create additional problems in its relations with China," Lavrov said, according to a press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

Lavrov during the conference said that countries are developing economically, look at China and India (our strategic partners), Turkey, Brazil, Argentina, Egypt and many African countries.

"Considering their immense natural resources, their development potential is enormous. New centres of economic growth are emerging. The West is trying to prevent this, in part, by exploiting the mechanisms created to service its interests within the globalisation framework it created," he said.

According to Lavrov, the dollar's role as a reserve currency is very important in this respect. This is why in our contacts through the SCO, BRICS, the CIS, and the EAEU, and in our cooperation with associations of Asia, Africa and Latin America, we are doing all we can to create new forms of interaction to avoid dependence on the West and its neo-colonialist methods (that are now clear).

He said that in the so-called "Indo-Pacific region," the West is out to create bloc architecture against Russia and China. With this aim in view, they have consistently been destroying (although they prefer to keep quiet about this) the decades-old mechanisms and formats of cooperation created around ASEAN based on equality, consensus, and a balance of interests. Instead, they are putting together military blocs.

"What is happening in Ukraine now is the result of preparations by the US and its satellites for the start of a global hybrid war against the Russian Federation. Nobody is hiding this fact. This is clear from statements by unbiased Western politologists, scientists and politicians," the Russian foreign minister said.

The events surrounding Ukraine have brought to light the implicit push by the United States to drop attempts to reinforce its global position with legitimate means and to adopt illegitimate methods to ensure its dominance, Lavrov said according to the foreign ministry's press release.

Regarding the prospects of talks with Ukraine, he said that they have been discussed and considered dozens of times.

"I don't want to repeat obvious facts. Starting in March 2021, we supported Ukraine's request for talks. Moreover, we finalised the draft settlement agreement proposed by that country. But Ukraine got a slap on its wrists and was told it was too early. Since then, after the spring of 2022, all summer and until the beginning of autumn, Western officials have repeatedly said in different words that it is too early to start negotiations," Lavrov said during the news conference.