Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the United States of abandoning internationally recognized diplomatic conventions in pursuit of its own interests, particularly with regard to dominating energy markets, in an interview broadcast this Friday.
Lavrov, interviewed by Russian state television, said Washington, in its dealings with Latin America and the Middle East, was ‘taking us back to a world where nothing existed’ in international law.
‘The United States has officially declared that no one can give it orders,’ he said in the interview, the text of which was published on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.
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‘They care only about their own well-being and are ready to defend that well-being by any means — coups, kidnappings, or assassinations of leaders of countries that have natural resources that Americans need.’
“Venezuela, Iran — our American colleagues make no secret of the fact that this is about oil. They have a doctrine of domination in global energy markets.”
Lavrov was alluding to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a US military operation in January and the death of then-Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in joint US and Israeli airstrikes in late February.
The United States, according to Lavrov, ‘isolated’ Europe, asking European countries to abandon the now-damaged Nord Stream pipeline that carried Russian gas to Germany, and supporting European Union calls to discourage Hungary and Slovakia from buying Russian gas.
‘That is not an approach to international relations. It is an attempt to return to the colonial era,’ said Lavrov.
Even as it sought a settlement to the four-year war in Ukraine, he said, the United States was promoting the benefits of ‘enormous economic opportunities.’
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‘At the same time, everything I just described is happening in parallel. We are being pushed out of all global energy markets,’ he said.
‘If we are ready to carry out mutually beneficial projects on our territory and provide Americans with what interests them… then our interests must also be respected. So far, we’re not seeing that.’
