Russia accuses US of undermining global order, stability

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Russia’s Foreign Minister says the very foundations of the international legal order, strategic stability and the UN-centric system of global politics were being tested as he accused the United States of seeking to perpetuate its dominance in the multipolar world.

Sergey Lavrov was chairing a meeting of the UN Security Council in New York under the theme: Multilateral cooperation in the interest of a more just, democratic and sustainable world order.

He again accuses NATO of reckless expansion over Moscow’s warnings as provoking the Ukraine crisis, drawing from rebukes from several Council members, no less by Washington’s envoy who accused Russia of hypocrisy as it continues to prosecute its war in Ukraine in violation of the UN Charter.

The debate was about strengthening the foundations of cooperation and multilateralism but Russia’s top diplomat placed the United States firmly in his sights, accusing it of misplaced exceptionalism, demanding unquestioning obedience, even to the detriment of its own national interests – calling Washington a direct threat to multilateralism and international law.

“If you fulfill and obey the will of the hegemon, you’re permitted to do anything you wish. But if you dare defend your national interests, you will be declared a pariah and sanctioned. Washington’s hegemonic policy has not changed for decades. Every Euro-Atlantic security arrangement, without exception, has been based on ensuring US dominance. This has included the subjugation of Europe and the containment of Russia. The main role in this was assigned to NATO, which eventually subjugated the European Union, which was presumably created for Europeans and shamelessly privatized OSCE institutions in flagrant violation of the Helsinki Final Act. The reckless expansion of NATO, despite repeated warnings from Moscow over many years, also provoked the Ukrainian crisis.”

Lavrov goes on, accusing the West of aggressively dismantling the global system in order to contain countries like Russia and China – accusing the United States of holding the entire West at gunpoint while expanding trade and economic wars with countries it views as undesirable, unleashing unilateral coercive measures that he argues is leading to fragmentation of the world economy. He also told the Council that countries of South Asia, Africa and Latin America were suffering from neocolonial practices as he accused the U.S. and its allies of impeding international cooperation towards building a more just world. But the U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield accused Russia of not taking the subject matter of the debate seriously.

“It is clear: the hypocrisy displayed on the UN’s North Lawn, by a nation that has chosen to beat plowshares into swords, is only matched by the hypocrisy it has displayed in this very Council today and every day. Today, we gather under the guise of embracing and improving multilateralism; of recommitting to international law. And yet, as we speak, Russia continues to erode confidence in our institutions, while wilfully and flagrantly violating the core tenets of the United Nations Charter: territorial integrity. Respect for human rights. International cooperation.”

Other countries also pointed the finger at the Russian Federation including South Korea’s envoy Hwang Joonkook who called it surreal that Moscow had chosen the topic for discussion given its aggression in Ukraine.

South Korea’s Ambassador Hwang Joonkook says,  “The country has been providing us with an almost painful amount of food for thought on this subject, with the frustration from the intractable conflicts, violence and threats to international peace and security persisting around the world, such as the war in Ukraine, the Gaza crisis and DPRK repeated violations of the Security Council resolutions. It is often argued that the UN and multilateralism have become futile. It is truly frustrating that in practice, the UN indeed was designed to be powerless. In case a permanent member of the Security Council uses force in violation of the UN charter and is determined to get away with it. However, this does not mean that we should give up on the UN or multilateralism.”

UK Ambassador Barbara Woodward adds, “While you tell us how you believe the world order can become more just, democratic and sustainable, your military is systematically bombing civilians in Ukraine in an unprovoked war of aggression and in flagrant violation of the UN charter. What is just about trying to annex another country’s land? What is democratic about trying to subjugate another country’s people? What is sustainable about waging a war that has killed or injured over 500 000 of your own people?”

With broad consensus in the Council around the need for multilateralism to be strengthened through reforming the U.N. and other global multilateral institutions, including the Brettonwoods – as Sierra Leone Ambassador Michael Imran Kanu explained.

“This Council should in this regard, reflect on reform measures that will reinforce our collective obligation to apply the proposals and principles upon which our organization was founded, as enshrined in the U.N. charter. We cannot champion a just, democratic and sustainable world when Africa, a continent of which more than half of the discussions of the Security Council are based, remains excluded and the permanent category and underrepresented in a non-permanent category in the organ, with primary responsibility and binding decision powers and matters of international peace and security.”

A world divided as big powers strain to find common ground that can better sustain an already fragile multilateral order, with serious consequences for countries caught in the middle or on the periphery