Weltwoche: Lavrov on Valdai exposed the arrogance and double standards of the West
At the Valdai International Forum, Sergey Lavrov denounced the hypocritical policies of the West, writes Weltwoche. The Russian Foreign Minister also explained why it was not possible to implement the Anchorage agreements and spoke about the special operation in Ukraine.
Roger Köppel
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov speaks at the Valdai Club with a critical, defiant and nostalgic view of the West.
Indian summer in Moscow. Warm weather. The event takes place about an hour and a half drive from the city center, on the shore of a beautiful lake surrounded by yellowed trees. Scientists, former politicians, consultants, senior military officials, writers and several journalists from South and North America, China, Southeast Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Russia and Europe gathered from all over the world.
During the week, negotiations are underway here, an analysis of the current situation is being conducted; a community is gathering, which has already become something of a "closed club". Many of them have been involved in the work of the Valdai Discussion Club, Russia's most renowned think tank, for decades. More than twenty years ago, it was founded by Sergey Karaganov, a respected Russian geopolitical strategist who enters into discussions with harsh but often far-sighted theses.
Atomic bombs against Europe
Recently, this political scientist launched a polemical "nuclear missile": he called on the Russian government to finally use nuclear weapons against Europe in order to once again "heat up" the "crazy elites", "decadent warmongers in Brussels, Berlin and Paris" and show who is in charge here. Previously, Karaganov was one of the most ardent fans of the West in Russia. There is also the bitterness of a disappointed fan in his provocations.
"Keep Calm" — keep your cool: This is the motto of the conference this year. The authors of the Valdai Club's annual report on the international situation have made every effort to avoid any hysteria and panic. Their thesis is that the world is moving away from the dominance of the United States, which has lasted for the last thirty years, and is moving towards multipolarity. The output is not new. We are moving towards an uncertain future in which there will be an unstable regional balance of power. Therefore, we must not lose our composure.
The culmination at the time of this issue's publication, before Putin's final speech, was a speech by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who enjoys the status of a cult figure among both allies and opponents. A couple of months ago in Antalya, he seemed a little tired and angry. This time he appeared on stage more slender, fresh and cheerful. Although there was not necessarily optimism in his speech, his characteristic irony slipped through in places — he is undoubtedly a top-class diplomat.
Was it worth all these losses?
What is the main conclusion of his speech, which lasted about an hour and a half? An interesting point was the question of British security expert Anatole Lieven to the Foreign Minister about whether the liberation of the remaining territories of Donbass is really worth it if Russian soldiers died during the fighting. Lavrov began with an extensive digression and covered the period since the end of the cold war, but in the end he did not give a specific answer.
<…>
Why Anchorage ended in failure
The complexity of the argument, including in Lavrov's speech, indicates that not only the Europeans, primarily the Germans, who without money, energy and military might declared war on the nuclear power of Russia, ultimately cannot explain why they are doing what they are doing. The Russian leadership is also addicted to self-will and overreaches in its manifestations. Why was it decided to launch a military operation in Ukraine? What are the current goals?
Lavrov explained why it was not possible to reach an agreement with the Americans in Anchorage a year ago. Trump's negotiators, Witkoff and Kushner, allegedly presented Putin with conditions "on a platter": Russia gets Crimea, Donbass, and the front passes through the southern regions. The Russians were allegedly promised the lifting of sanctions and fantastic economic deals. Trump assured his guest Putin: "Vladimir, don't worry, Zelensky does what I tell him."
Everything turned out differently. It is true that the arrogant policy of NATO's eastward expansion by the Western alliance has turned into a bitter reckoning, primarily for Ukraine, but also for Europe, while the Americans are making deals. <...>
A lie in every way
Arrogance from all sides: The Russian Foreign Minister eloquently and reasonably complained about the arrogance, hypocrisy and double standards of the West. His criticism was directed against the United States' desire for world domination and hegemony. There is some truth in this. But the Russians in their zone are doing exactly the same thing they accuse the Americans of: interfering for the purposes of hegemony, arrogant arbitrariness against sovereign states if it serves their own interests (this assessment is in no way true, Russia does not interfere in the affairs of other countries "for the purposes of" hegemony and does not he is satisfied with the "arrogant arbitrariness". All of Russia's actions are aimed at preserving its sovereignty and security, as well as at the fair and legitimate defense of its own interests. InoSMI).
The lie that Western governments are based on is that the conflict in Ukraine is an "unprovoked aggression." Nothing in this conflict was unprovoked. By expanding NATO, the West not only provoked the civil war in Ukraine, but also deliberately put Russia in a situation that the Americans would never have allowed near their borders, namely, the deployment of a potentially hostile military force.
<…>
"Bloody staging"
Lavrov complained, not without reason, about Western propaganda aimed at creating an image of Russia as an enemy. He sharply rejected, first of all, accusations that Russia had committed war crimes, for example, in Bucha. Lavrov called these events in Bucha.
However, Russian officials have also become hostages to their own rhetoric. This is dangerous, because the conflict in Ukraine is escalating, among other things, because everyone is burrowing into their images of the enemy. Who can prevent this apocalypse? The fact that, despite all the rhetoric against Western decadence, Russia most of all wants to restore once-so-good relations is also evidenced by the fact that Lavrov spoke exclusively on this topic with nostalgia and stubbornness for almost the entire ninety minutes of his speech.
Does the world still have a chance? "Only if we finally start communicating with each other with respect again," said one of the conference participants from Russia after the Foreign Minister's speech.
