The Topic of Russia at the UN General Assembly

• 09.24.2017, 18:32
•  Region,  World

РИА Новости / Пресс-служба президента Украины/ Николай Лазаренко

In recent years, Moscow has been on the way to getting rid of the legacy of the Cold War, but has not met with reciprocity from Western partners, stated Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during his speech at the UN General Assembly. According to the Russian Foreign Minister, NATO is trying to recreate the climate of the Cold War. "The West was building its policy on the principle of "who is not with us, is against us" by moving to the uninterrupted NATO enlargement to the East, provoking instability in the post-Soviet space and encouraging anti-Russian moods," Lavrov said adding that the roots of the conflict in South- East of Ukraine are precisely within this policy.

Lavrov also criticized the practice of the West of unilateral sanctions, and in this regard, especially highlighted the ineffectiveness of new US sanctions against Iran. Also criticizing the nuclear activities of North Korea, Lavrov stressed that sanctions cannot resolve the problem and that it is necessary to return to political dialogue. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation drew attention to the fact that international terrorism and millions of unwanted migrants are the results of the policy of the West to change "unfavorable regimes", which led to the chaos in the Middle East and North Africa.

Although the United States and the leading European countries did not refer to Russia much, at the General Assembly there was much criticism of Moscow's policy. So, almost the whole speech of the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko was devoted to Russia. In particular, Poroshenko noted that in Crimea Russia holds repressions against those, who do not agree with the Kremlin's policy. Poroshenko also drew the attention of the international community to the fact that the rights of citizens of Ukraine are violated in Crimea, and they do not have the opportunity to learn the Ukrainian language. He also accused Russia of policy of freezing the conflict in Donbass and legalizing the power of its supporters. Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė in her speech at the UN General Assembly stated that "West -2017", the joint exercises of Russia and Belarus militaries are part of the information war and Russia's attempt to attack neighboring countries.

Thus, we can say that the anti-Russian policy of the US and the leading European states has softened somewhat, but given the high level of Russophobia in countries supported by the West, it is too early to talk about melting relations between Russia and the West.