Russian Consulate in Cape Town

🎙 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrovanswers a question from the Moscow. Kremlin. Putin programme (Astana, July 4, 2024) Question: How important is it that Belarus has joined us in the #SCO? 💬 Sergey Lavrov: Belarus is part of the Union State. We are interested in the Union State taking part in all international processes as a single front. I believe we are going in the right direction.

#Opinion ✍️Dmitry Trenin, a research professor at the Higher School of Economics and a lead research fellow at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations, member of the Russian International Affairs Council. Europe will eventually have to choose between the US and BRICS Read in full Key points: 💬 Rather than setting out to organize a genuine multipolar system based on mutual recognition of each nation’s core interests, <...> the US proceeded to enhance its exclusive and comprehensive dominance. • This year, at the #BRICS Summit in Russia’s Kazan, the group will for the first time include the leaders of Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Another major Eurasian institution is the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (#SCO) <...> to be admitted soon. A number of other Eurasian countries, from Turkey to Thailand and from the Malpes to Mongolia, have voiced their intention to join either BRICS or SCO. • To counter that trend among the members of what we increasingly call the World Majority, Washington has raised the profile of NATO in the Indo-Pacific; strengthened its Cold War-era bilateral and trilateral alliances in the Western Pacific, and founded a new one, #AUKUS, in the South Pacific. ❗️ All these multiple arrangements are completely dominated by the US and are aimed at containing and deterring Washington’s designated primary adversaries: China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea – with one overriding goal of defending America’s hegemonic position. • In contrast to that, neither BRICS nor the SCO is dominated by a single power, or a tandem/triumvirate of nations. BRICS’s recent expansion also suggests that it does not aspire to become a version of the West’s G7, as an elitist steering group, or directoire, for the non-Western world. • Neither BRICS nor the SCO is overtly anti-American or anti-Western: their main focus is internal rather than external, and they have their work cut out for them. • The emerging mutual security space within the SCO will make the continent – minus Western Europe, for the time being – far more stable, whether in terms of strategic stability in major-power relations, regional security systems, or the risks of terrorism. ☝️ Eventually, the countries of Western Europe – or far western Eurasia, if you like – will have to make a choice between staying in the US orbit as America’s power continues to shrink, or reaching out east to a vast and vibrant new world next door.

🎙Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at an extended meeting with the participation of the Foreign Ministers from the Global South and the Global East(June 11, 2024, Nizhny Novgorod) 💬 Welcome to Russia and Nizhny Novgorod, a beautiful city, the beauty of which and the feelings of the residents of which you had the chance to enjoy yesterday. Today’s meeting reflects the efforts of #BRICS members to develop ties with the stakeholder countries from the Global South and the Global East, the countries of the Global Majority, in order to identify solutions to the most pressing global issues faced by all members of the international community without exception. We are witnessing a profound transformation of international relations triggered by the formation of a fairer and polycentric system of international order, which would reflect the entire gamut of cultural and civilisational diversity of the modern-day world and ensure the right of every nation to determine its own future and its own path of development. The stronger voice of the Global Majority, i.e. the countries of Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean, which are not part of the collective West, is a major trend now. Only by uniting our ranks can we truly effectively promote a vision of a just future shared by all of us. In this context, it is important to strengthen the role of the country-to-country groups that advocate balanced and equitable approaches to international development. We are talking about the formats which reflect the principles of equitable cooperation in practice rather than in words. These include, along with BRICS, #SCO, #AfricanUnion, #EAEU, #CIS, #ASEAN, #LAS, #CELAC, #GCC, #IORA and many other organisations. The chairs of many of these organisations are here with us. We believe it is important to establish contacts between all such integration entities which operate at regional levels, on the one hand, and our global association BRICS, on the other hand. This will promote gradual and mutually respectful harmonisation of approaches to the issues facing all associations. The strengthening the international legal framework and collective decision-making on global issues is now at the forefront. Only in this case will those decisions be effective and legitimate. This principle is laid down in the UN Charter. Unfortunately, the collective West’s decisions, especially in the economy, finance, trade and more, increasingly fail to comply with the fundamental principles of the UN Charter. Our countries have largely overlapping approaches to reforming the system of multilateral institutions, including the UN and the UN Security Council, as well as addressing the post-pandemic recovery of the global economy and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals approved by the UN General Assembly. 🤝 We look forward to discussing all these issues today.