Moscow proposes removing the primary causes of the Ukraine crisis and its settlement should include eliminating threats to Russia emanating from the West, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a UN Security Council ministerial debate that he chaired on Tuesday, TASS reports.
During his speech, Russia’s top diplomat offered a number of steps aimed at "restoring trust and stabilizing the international situation."
"Firstly, it is necessary to remove once and forever the primary causes of the crisis that broke out in Europe. The terms of establishing a durable peace in Ukraine were outlined by President [of Russia Vladimir] Putin and I will not repeat them. A political and diplomatic settlement should be accompanied by specific steps for removing the threats to the Russian Federation emanating from the Western, Euroatlantic direction," Lavrov said.
In this context, the Russian foreign minister stressed that "in the process of agreeing upon mutual guarantees and accords, it will also be necessary to take into account new geostrategic realities on the Eurasian continent where a common continental architecture of truly equal and indivisible security is being formed."
"Europe risks lagging behind this objective historical process," Lavrov pointed out. "We are ready for looking for a balance of interests," he emphasized.
Speaking about another major condition for forming a fair world order, Russia’s top diplomat said that "the process of restoring the regional and global balance of forces should be accompanied by active efforts for removing unfair factors in the global economy."
"In a multipolar world, there should be no monopolies by definition in monetary and financial regulation, trade and technologies. This viewpoint is shared by an overwhelming majority of members of the international community. Of special significance is the quickest reformation of the Bretton Woods institutions and the World Trade Organization whose activity should reflect a real weight of non-Western centers of growth and development," Russia’s top diplomat said.
