In his Nov. 11 interview with Corriere della Sera, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned about the revival of Nazism. “It is indicative that, while dragging the Kiev regime into the EU, the Brussels elites remain silent about the outrageous discrimination of ‘non-indigenous ethnicities’ (as Kiev contemptuously calls Russians who have lived in Ukraine for centuries) and praise Zelenskyy’s junta for defending ‘European values.’ This is just another proof that Nazism is re-surging in Europe. It is something to think about, especially after Germany and Italy, together with Japan, recently began to vote against the General Assembly’s annual resolution on the unacceptability of glorifying Nazism.”
Lavrov later explained that London-led European nations seek the destruction of Russia. “Their key objective is to compromise the position of the current U.S. administration that has from the outset advocated dialogue, looked into Russia’s position and showed willingness to seek a lasting peace. Donald Trump repeatedly said in public that one of the reasons for Russia’s action was NATO’s expansion and the advancement of the alliance’s infrastructure to our country’s borders. That is what President Putin and Russia have been warning against for the past twenty years. We hope that common sense prevails in Washington, that it will hold onto its principled position, and will refrain from actions which can propel the conflict to the next level of escalation.”
He went on to recall historical precedents. “We would like to see the awareness of such a disastrous policy sink in with European governments, most of whom are pursuing a rabid anti-Russia agenda. Europe already waged wars [against us] under Napoleon’s flags, and last century also under the Hitler’s Nazi banners and colors. Some European leaders have a very short memory.”
Lavrov pointed to Putin’s proposals to solve the crisis. “The West’s efforts have totally discredited and dismantled the Euro-Atlantic security system in its pre-2022 form. In that regard, President Putin came up with an initiative to set up a new architecture of equal and indivisible security in Eurasia. It is open for all the nations of the continent, including its European part, but it requires polite behavior devoid of neo-colonial arrogance, on the basis of equality, mutual respect and balance of interests.”
The Global Majority favors such an approach, he added. “Our relations with the Global South and Global East nations—which make up 85% of the Earth’s population—keep progressing. In September, the Russian President paid a state visit to China. In the past few months alone, Vladimir Putin took part in the SCO, BRICS, CIS, and Russia-Central Asia summits, whereas our high-level government delegations attended the APEC and ASEAN summits and are now preparing for the G20 summit.”
Lavrov explained: “We do not ‘promote’ a multipolar world order as its emergence results from an objective process. Instead of conquest, enslavement, subjugation or exploitation, which was how the colonial powers built their order and went on to bring about capitalism, this process implies cooperation, taking into account each other’s interests, and ensuring the smart division of labor based on the comparative competitive advantages of the participating countries and integration structures.”
