Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in a statement to a meeting of the G20 foreign ministers in New York yesterday, argued that refusal to adhere to the principles embedded in the UN Charter is behind most of the conflicts in the world today. The founders of the UN charged it with the mission to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war” and “promote social progress,” Lavrov said. “Reliance on the principles enshrined in the UN Charter in their entirety, comprehensiveness, and interrelationship guarantees peaceful, progressive development of all States without exception—both large and small.”