21 September 2017 – Russian Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov endorsed at the United Nations General Assembly today United States President Donald Trump’s affirmation of the primacy of national sovereignty in international affairs.
“The world keeps changing,” he told the 72nd annual general debate, citing last December’s Assembly resolution on the ‘promotion of a democratic and equitable international order,’ which deemed unacceptable interference in the internal affairs of sovereign States, which the US under former President Barak Obama voted against.
“It is gratifying to note, as the US President Donald Trump unequivocally stated from this podium Tuesday, that it is important to comply with the principles of sovereignty in the international affairs; it is necessary to ensure leadership by example and not impose one’s will on other nations,” he said.
“I believe that anyone can sign under these words, especially, if the US foreign policy is conducted precisely on this basis. Sovereignty, refraining from interference into internal affairs, equality of people and mutual respect – Russia has always adhered to these principles and will continue to uphold them,” Mr. Lavrov underscored.
He lamented that Russia’s Western partners have not reciprocated Moscow’s good-faith efforts to eliminate the legacy of the Cold War, and have instead chosen “the path of reckless eastward NATO expansion and provoking instability in the post-Soviet space and encouraging anti-Russian sentiments. This policy is precisely the root cause of the protracted conflict in South-Eastern Ukraine,” he added.
Turning to the crisis over the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK) nuclear programme, Mr. Lavrov said Russia resolutely condemns “the nuclear missile adventures of Pyongyang in violation of the UN Security Council resolutions. “However, the build-up of military hysteria is not only a dead-end but also deadly,” he stated. “It goes without saying that all UN Security Council resolutions must be implemented. But all of them, along with sanctions, contain provisions on the need to resume talks.”
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