Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that the West is becoming increasingly divided as its power wanes, accusing the United States and European allies of shifting the burden of “containing Russia” onto NATO members.
Speaking during a visit to China on Wednesday, Lavrov blamed the EU and UK for “torpedoing” U.S.-Russian talks aimed at normalizing diplomatic ties and criticized large-scale European rearmament programs.
“European elites see militarization as a guarantee of their survival. And Americans encourage this European militarization as it shifts responsibility for security of the Old World,” he said.
Washington is content for European states to bankroll Kiev against Moscow and even create a new military bloc involving Ukraine, as this places “the main responsibility [on them] for containing Russia,” Lavrov stated.
According to the diplomat, the broader Western agenda is to “preserve and renew their hegemony” and put in place new tools to ensure they “live at the expense of others” — as slavery and colonialism did in the past. But as their relative power declines, internal frictions in the West intensify.
Lavrov criticized the EU for prioritizing ideology over economic pragmatism by refusing Russian energy supplies despite a global price shock caused by U.S. military operations against Iran.
“Europe says it is getting off the needle of Russian oil and gas,” he added. “And it risks getting impaled by an aspen stake, which [the U.S.] is actively sharpening for the Europeans.”
The top Russian diplomat alleged that officials in Brussels, Paris, Berlin, and London are making efforts to prolong the Ukraine conflict and keep the United States involved. They have largely nullified the outcome of U.S.-Russian negotiations in Alaska last year, even as President Donald Trump has moved away from his predecessor’s policy of open-ended support for Kiev.
Moscow has no illusions about the fact that the U.S. pursues dominance over global energy markets through recent military operations against Venezuela and Iran, as well as the continuation of sanctions on Russia.