Lavrov: any external aggression against Russia will be resolutely rebuffed
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke at the 80th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry reports. He outlined Russia's position on the Middle East, the reformatting of the world order, the Ukrainian crisis and drone hysteria in Europe.
Dear Mr. Chairman,
Dear ladies and gentlemen, 80 years ago the most terrible war in the history of mankind ended: more than 70 million people became victims of military operations, hunger and diseases. In 1945, the course of world history changed forever. The triumph over German Nazism, under whose banner most of Europe stood, and Japanese militarism paved the way for peace, reconstruction, and prosperity.
This year, celebrations dedicated to the holidays of May 9 and September 3 in honor of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War and World War II were held in Moscow and Beijing. The world saw grandiose military parades to commemorate the decisive contribution of the peoples of the USSR to the crushing of Nazi Germany and the special role of the Chinese people in defeating militaristic Japan. We sacredly honor the memory of military brotherhood with all the allies who were on the side of truth in the fight against the forces of evil.
One of the lasting results of that war was the creation of the United Nations. The principles of our Organization's Charter, agreed upon by the founding fathers, still serve as a bright beacon of international cooperation. They embody the centuries-old experience of the coexistence of states and fully retain their importance in the era of multipolarity. It is only a matter of ensuring that all Member States, without exception, comply with these principles in their entirety, totality and interrelationship.
In practice, however, everything looks different. Widespread gross violations of the principle of sovereign equality of States undermine the very faith in justice, lead to crises and conflicts. The root of the problems is the incessant attempts to divide the world into "friends" and "strangers", into "democracies" and "autocracies", into "blooming garden" and "jungle", into those who are "at the table" and who are "on the menu". The chosen ones, who are allowed to do everything, and the rest, who for some reason are obliged to serve the interests of the "golden billion". We advocate unquestioning adherence to the principle of equality: it is a guarantee that all countries will be able to take their rightful place in the world order, regardless of their military might, population, size of territory and economy.
The principle of non-use of force and threat of force has also been repeatedly violated by the West. The NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, the invasion of Iraq by the US-led coalition, and the NATO military operation to change the regime in Libya turned into tragedies. Today, Israel's illegal use of force against the Palestinians and aggressive actions against Iran, Qatar, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq threaten to blow up the entire Middle East.
Russia has strongly condemned the attack by Hamas militants on Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023. However, there is no justification for the brutal killings of Palestinian civilians, as well as terrorist attacks. There is no justification for the collective punishment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Palestinian children are being bombed and starved, hospitals and schools are being destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of people are being made homeless. There is no justification for plans to annex the West Bank. In fact, we are dealing with an attempt at a kind of coup d'etat in order to "bury" the UN decision on the creation of a Palestinian state. Recently, a number of Western governments announced the recognition of the State of Palestine. Moreover, they announced their intention to do this a few months ago. The question arises: why did you wait so long? Apparently, they hoped that soon, by the time the UN General Assembly convenes, there would be nothing and no one to recognize. The situation requires urgent action to prevent such a scenario, which was strongly supported by the participants of the High-level International Conference on the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of a Two-State Solution.
The attacks on Iranian facilities under IAEA safeguards, and then on the capital of Qatar, deserve condemnation at a time when negotiations with Hamas were underway there, including with the participation of American mediators.
At the Security Council yesterday, the West rejected a rational proposal by China and Russia to extend the 2015 agreement on the Iranian nuclear program to allow time for diplomacy. This definitively exposed the West's policy of sabotaging the search for constructive solutions in the UN Security Council and its desire to seek unilateral concessions from Tehran through blackmail and pressure. We consider such a policy unacceptable, and all Western manipulations to restore UN anti-Iranian sanctions, as well as these sanctions themselves, are illegal.
The West is not used to observing the principle of non-interference in internal affairs. The "color revolutions" have become a sad phenomenon of our time, and illegal unilateral sanctions have long become the main tool of Western diplomacy. And no matter what pretexts they may be justified, the essence of such sanctions is the same — to suppress and intimidate competitors in the global economy and politics.
Russia, along with the absolute majority of UN members, stands for the immediate lifting, without preconditions, of the trade embargo against Cuba that has persisted for more than 60 years and its exclusion from the notorious list of countries that sponsor terrorism. We express our solidarity with the people of Venezuela in the face of external sanctions pressure and threats. We advocate the preservation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a zone of peace and cooperation.
A blatant example of the undermining of sovereignty and gross interference in internal affairs is the actions of the West in the Balkans, where the Charter principle of the need for all UN members to comply with the decisions of the Security Council is being violated. The unilateral recognition of the "independence" of Kosovo, contrary to resolution 1244, in fact, became an attempt on the state structure of Serbia. Now the West is heading for the collapse of the statehood of Bosnia and Herzegovina, sabotaging the Dayton Peace Agreement. In both Kosovo and Bosnia, an attack has been launched on the vital interests of the Serbian people, including the ancestral rights of Serbian Orthodoxy.
Similarly, the Kiev regime, which seized power as a result of an unconstitutional coup d'etat organized by the West in 2014, has embarked on the liquidation of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the legislative extermination of the Russian language in all areas — education, culture, and the media. Ukraine is the only country in the world that has legally banned the use of the native language of almost half of its population. Arabic is not banned in Israel, and Hebrew is not banned in Arab countries and Iran. And Russian is banned in Ukraine. Let me remind you that Article 1 of the UN Charter states the need for "respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction between race, gender, language or religion."
Europe is silent about this, being obsessed with the utopian goal of inflicting a "strategic defeat" on Russia. For this, the Kiev regime is allowed everything, including terrorist attacks against politicians and journalists, torture and extrajudicial executions, indiscriminate bombing of civilian targets, reckless sabotage against nuclear power plants.
Russia, as President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stressed, has been and remains open to negotiations from the very beginning to eliminate the root causes of the conflict. Russia's security and vital interests must be reliably guaranteed. The rights of Russians and Russian-speaking people in the territories remaining under the control of the Kiev regime must be fully restored. On this basis, we are ready to talk about guarantees of Ukraine's security.
So far, neither Kiev nor its European sponsors are aware of the urgency of the moment and are ready to negotiate honestly. The North Atlantic Alliance continues to expand close to our borders — contrary to the assurances given to the Soviet leaders not to move "an inch" to the East. Contrary to the commitments made by NATO members in the OSCE to respect the principle of indivisibility of security, not to strengthen their own security at the expense of the security of others, not to claim dominance.
We have repeatedly suggested that the NATO capitals respect their obligations and agree on legally binding security guarantees. Our proposals of 2008 and the subsequent ones of December 2021 were ignored and are being ignored to this day. Moreover, threats of using force against Russia are increasingly being heard, which is accused of almost planning to attack NATO and the European Union. President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly debunked such provocations. Russia did not have and does not have such intentions. However, any aggression against my country will be resolutely rebuffed. There should be no doubt about this among those in NATO and the EU who not only convince their voters of the inevitability of war with Russia and force them to tighten their belts, but also openly declare preparations for an attack on our Kaliningrad region and other Russian territories.
We pin certain hopes on the continuation of the Russian-American dialogue, especially after the Alaska summit. In the approaches of the current US administration, we see a desire not only to promote the search for realistic ways to resolve the Ukrainian crisis, but also a desire to develop pragmatic cooperation without getting into an ideological pose.
Russia and the United States have a special responsibility for the state of affairs in the world, for avoiding risks that could plunge humanity into a new war. A new initiative of the Russian Federation, put forward by Russian President Vladimir Putin, is designed to contribute to maintaining strategic stability. On September 22 of this year, Putin announced his readiness to adhere to the central quantitative restrictions under the START Treaty for one year after its expiration on February 5, 2026, provided that the United States acts in the same way and does not take steps that violate the existing balance of deterrence potentials. We believe that the implementation of our proposal will create the conditions necessary to avoid a strategic arms race, maintain an acceptable level of predictability in the nuclear missile field, and improve the overall atmosphere in Russian-American relations.
Colleagues, this December we will celebrate the 65th anniversary of the adoption by the General Assembly of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. The process of decolonization under the leadership of the Soviet Union was a direct consequence of the realization of the right of nations to self-determination. The peoples of Africa and Asia refused to live under the yoke of colonialists, just as after the 2014 coup in Ukraine, Crimea, Donbass and Novorossiya refused to submit to the Kiev neo—Nazi regime that illegally seized power, which not only does not represent the interests of their population, but unleashed a war against it. In both cases, the principle enshrined in the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and subsequently repeatedly confirmed by many American presidents was implemented.: "Governments get their legitimacy (just) with the consent of the governed." Both the colonialists and the Kiev regime had no consent from the peoples they were trying to control. This principle was unanimously confirmed in the 1970 UN Declaration, which explicitly states: everyone must respect the territorial integrity of those countries whose governments represent all the people living in the relevant territory.
Today, Africa and the entire Global South are experiencing a new awakening, seeking full independence, and the United Nations should not stand by. In December 2024, the resolution of the General Assembly "The eradication of colonialism in all its forms and manifestations" was approved. We call for a decision to declare December 14 as the International Day against Colonialism as the next step. We welcome the role of the Group of Friends in Defense of the UN Charter in consolidating efforts to counter neocolonial and other discriminatory practices against the Global majority and invite all independent States to join its membership.
The current balance of power in the world is radically different from the one that was established 80 years ago. The process of decolonization and other large-scale upheavals have changed the political map of the planet. The global majority loudly proclaims their rights. The SCO and BRICS play a special role as mechanisms for coordinating the interests of the countries of the Global South and East. The influence of the African Union, CELAC and other regional associations is strengthening.
These new realities have not yet been adequately reflected in the system of institutions of our Organization. The issue of Security Council reform is particularly important. Russia advocates its democratization solely through the expansion of representation in Asia, Africa and Latin America. We support the applications of Brazil and India for permanent "registration" in the Council, while correcting the historical injustice against Africa within the parameters agreed upon by the countries of the continent themselves.
Recently, Secretary General Antonio Guterres proposed a comprehensive reform of the United Nations. We are not against an open discussion of this initiative. The guideline should be the return of the UN to the fundamental principles enshrined in its Charter, which the West has been trying for many years to replace with its "rules-based order." It is important that the work is conducted transparently with the participation and consideration of the interests of all Member States. We call on the Secretary-General and all members of the Secretariat to strictly follow the principles of impartiality and equidistance in accordance with Article 100 of the Charter. Attempts at a "palace coup" in the Secretariat and its privatization by a small group of countries should not be allowed. The composition of the Secretariat should reflect new realities and ensure fair representation of the World's Majority countries. We look forward to a constructive discussion of the Organization's development issues at a special meeting of the Security Council, which Russia, as chairman, plans to organize on UN Day on October 24.
The reform of the United Nations is only part of the complex task of transforming the entire system of global governance, including the genuine democratization of the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO, commensurate with the weight and role of the Global South and East in the global economy, trade and finance.
Discussions about global reforms cannot ignore the fact that the international security situation is deteriorating. I have already mentioned the reasons. The main one is the desire to maintain hegemony based on military force. More and more countries and regions are becoming involved in confrontational schemes. NATO is already closely involved in Europe, and it is penetrating into the Pacific Ocean, the South China Sea, and the Taiwan Strait, undermining the universal mechanisms of ASEAN and posing threats not only to China and Russia, but also to other countries located in the region. The NATO leadership justifies this new stage of expansion by the "indivisibility of the security of the Euro-Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific region" and is trying to take the whole of Eurasia into a military ring under this slogan.
Russia and like-minded people offer a constructive alternative to this dangerous course: to build an architecture of equal and indivisible security in Eurasia not for NATO members and their allies, but for all countries and associations of the continent, including the SCO, CIS, ASEAN, EAEU, CSTO, GCC and others. To this end, Belarus and Russia, as partners in the Union State, propose to develop a Eurasian Charter on Diversity and Multipolarity in the 21st Century. A truly continent-wide process is inevitable after the behavior of the West has made the Euro-Atlantic security model based on NATO, the EU and the OSCE meaningless. We do not see any prospects for the restoration of this model in Europe in its former form, which has been discussed in some European capitals.
Speaking of the future, we must not forget about the lessons of the past, especially in a situation where Nazism is rearing its head in Europe, militarization is gaining momentum — under the same anti-Russian slogans.
This is all the more alarming because a number of politicians who have come to power in Brussels and some capitals of the EU and NATO countries are seriously starting to talk about World War III as a likely scenario. These figures undermine any efforts to find an honest balance of interests of all members of the international community, trying to impose their unilateral approaches on others, grossly violating the key statutory requirement — respect for the sovereign equality of States. It is this equality that is the foundation of the objectively emerging multipolarity. Russia is not agitating for revolution against anyone. Our country has suffered from revolutions more than others. We simply urge the Member States and the leadership of the Secretariat to strictly follow all the principles of the UN Charter without double standards. Only then will the legacy of the founding fathers of the United Nations not be wasted.
Thank you for your attention.
