Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attended the seventh Gulf Cooperation Council-Russia Joint Ministerial Meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Sept. 9. There he strategized with the foreign ministers of the GCC countries, both about how to bring an end to Israel’s genocide against Palestinians, and how to prevent an Israeli-initiated military action against Iran. The meeting also likely discussed Russia’s deepening relationship with the GCC itself. The Council is a regional political and economic union comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
“Riyadh, where the GCC is headquartered, is hosting our event for the third time,” Lavrov said. “The strategic dialogue at the level of foreign ministers was launched 13 years ago. The world has changed a great deal since that time. We can state that the centuries-long hegemony of the West, which the United States and its allies are trying to preserve by all means, is going to be a thing of the past. The outlines of a new, more equitable multipolar international order are gradually emerging, which should be based on the principles of the UN Charter, balance of interests of all countries, both large and small, and also take into account the right of the peoples to determine their destiny by themselves. No doubt that the GCC is becoming a major independent center in the developing multipolar international order.”
