After Destroying Libya, Syria, Iraq Others… WESTERN NATIONS Struggling To Give UP Hegemony, Says Russia’s FM Lavrov

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Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov has asserted that
the West is struggling to give up the hegemony it enjoyed for half a
millennium, hence its decision to impose its will on all others irrespective of
existing practical concerns and realistic demands.

According to him after several centuries of imposing its
will all over the world it is now struggling to come to terms with accepting
the reality and fact of becoming just another strong region in a multipolar
world.

Speaking at the ‘Territory of Meanings’ forum last Monday,
Lavrov contended that recent rhetoric by some western nations and the silence
of their elites give cause for concern, as it exposes their double standards in
global affairs.

He noted that after instigating aggression against Libya,
Iraq, Syria and Yugoslavia not forgetting Palestine and recent assault on Iran
leading to their destruction, they have now turned to Ukraine, which war they
instigated behaving as though they care while abandoning the former to their
fate.

“Many political scientists, academics, and experts seriously
argue that a third world war is not just unavoidable, but is already underway
in new forms, beginning with the West’s aggression against Yugoslavia in 1999
followed by aggression against Iraq, the destruction of Libya, and the attack
on Syria. All these Middle Eastern countries are now in a state of turmoil. The
territorial integrity of Iraq, Syria, and Libya – something the West seems to
care about only in the case of Ukraine – was gravely undermined during the Arab
Spring in 2011. These countries remain in a pretty bad shape.”

“Now, the West has turned to a neighbouring region, namely,
the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian territories, more broadly. There has been an
act of aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran”.

‘In Europe, the Ukraine issue represents the West’s policy
of aiming to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia’, he asserted insisting
that, “They don’t hide the fact that they had been preparing for this for quite
some time. With no shame, they are openly saying that the Minsk Agreements,
which were designed to resolve all problems, were never meant to be implemented”.

The Russian Foreign Minister explained that after
painstaking attempt to put together the Minsk Agreement, the West abandoned it
in an attempt to buy time for Ukraine to arm itself against Russia.

“President Putin, then-Chancellor Angela Merkel, then-French
President François Hollande, and then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko put
in 17 hours without sleep working on those agreements. But afterwards, those
very people who sat at one table with him admitted they never intended to
implement anything. They just needed to “put something on paper” to buy Ukraine
time for it to prepare for war with Russia, and to flood it with weapons. Those
same people are now demanding that we immediately cease fire and leave things
the way they are now, just so they can again buy time for their clients in Kiev
and pump more weapons into Ukraine”, he remarked.

He noted that the mere fact that Europeans genuinely seek to
“defeat us (Russians)” is confirmed daily especially as the New German
Chancellor Friedrich Merz recently stated that Germany must once again become
the strongest military power in Europe since it was the strongest military
power before World War I and before World War II which it both started.

“Now, he wants Germany to become “Europe’s top military
force” again. German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius stated that if necessary,
Germans would not hesitate to kill Russian soldiers. European elites are taking
this rhetoric as a given. This reflects, above all, the fact that the West
cannot accept the fact of becoming just another strong region in a multipolar
world. It cannot give up the hegemony it enjoyed for half a millennium. This is
visible especially clearly in Europe today which wants to impose its will on
everyone and ignore pragmatic concerns”, FM Sergey Lavrov stated.

According to him following the collapse of the Soviet Union,
Russia’s new foreign policy has largely always been based exclusively on its
national interests with no lecturing, and no forcing ideologically-driven
approaches on its neighbours or partners, except that of only operating in
strict compliance with the country’s conceptual documents, the Constitution and
the Foreign Policy Concept of which their primary goal of the foreign policy is
to ensure safe conditions for the country’s development and to raise the
well-being of its citizens.

The Russian Foreign Minister praised United States (US)
President Donald Trump over his resolve to broker peace in Ukraine based on
dialogue insisting that mutual respect existed during the Cold War era and thus
slammed the US’s European partners of going crazy in their bid to attempt to
inflict “Strategic Defeat” against Russia with the unbridled provision of arms
and technical support to Ukraine to kill Russian soldiers, politicians and
journalists among others.

“It is also imperative to acknowledge that mutual respect
existed during the Cold War. Today, it is absent. Europe has simply gone
berserk (I can think of no other word). Much of this is, understandably, a
struggle to retain power. They realise they have invested hundreds of billions
of euros into Ukraine solely to strike Russia, kill our soldiers, orchestrate
terrorist attacks against civilian infrastructure, and dispatch assassins to
eliminate our politicians and journalists. Europe pursues this with one objective
– to use Ukrainians as cannon fodder to eliminate Russia as a competitor. Even
better – to provoke centrifugal tendencies within our society”, he stated.

Mr. Lavrov indicated that Russia is now fighting the West
alone for the first time in history and must rely solely on its own strength
indicating that the unprecedented geopolitical landscape Russia found itself in
following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, has led to the
current heated stand-off with the West.

”The main task is to defeat the enemy. For the first time in
history, Russia is fighting alone against the entire West. In World War I and
World War II, we had allies. Now we have no allies on the battlefield. So we
must rely on ourselves and not allow any weakness,” he said.

Lavrov stressed that Russia will not back down from its core
security demands which led to the Ukraine conflict saying, “We insist on what
is our legitimate demand… no dragging Ukraine into NATO, no NATO expansion at
all. It has already expanded right up to our borders, contrary to all promises
and documents that were adopted,” he said, adding that a settlement of the conflict
should also recognize the new territorial reality on the ground as well as “A
non-aligned, nuclear-free, neutral state of Ukraine.”

Mr. Lavrov further indicated that those Russian speaking
Ukrainian regions that have formally being joined with Russia share cultural
and historical ties that cannot be broken saying, “When they (Ukraine) commenced
the obliteration and eradication of everything Russian, we could not remain
indifferent. We attempted persuasion and negotiations – it yielded nothing.
Hence, there was no alternative but to initiate the special military operation”.

“Territory is not our priority. Some assert: “They seized
land; it must be liberated.” These territories are not our concern – we already
possess the largest country on earth. What is paramount is the populace who
have dwelled there for centuries – custodians of Russian culture, language, and
education – who aspire to nurture their children within that heritage. They
must not be obliterated; their rights must be safeguarded. This is an entirely
lawful demand. Recognising the realities codified in our Constitution is an
absolute, non-negotiable imperative. We have much work ahead”, he stated.

Moscow has said on a number of occasions that NATO expansion
and Ukraine’s aspirations to join the US-led military bloc were among the key
reasons for the conflict. It has also warned that Western weapons deliveries to
Ukraine only serve to prolong the hostilities without changing the outcome,
while making NATO a direct party to the conflict.

This is the full text of the statement by Foreign Minister
Lavrov at the ‘Territory of Meanings’ forum;

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s Remarks

Since the Soviet Union went into oblivion, new Russia’s
foreign policy has always been based exclusively on its national interests. No
lecturing, and no forcing ideologically-driven approaches on our neighbours or
partners, either. We operate in strict compliance with our conceptual
documents, the Constitution and the Foreign Policy Concept. The primary goal of
our foreign policy is to ensure safe conditions for the country’s development
and to raise the well-being of our citizens.

Many political scientists, academics, and experts seriously
argue that a third world war is not just unavoidable, but is already underway
in new forms, beginning with the West’s aggression against Yugoslavia in 1999
followed by aggression against Iraq, the destruction of Libya, and the attack
on Syria. All these Middle Eastern countries are now in a state of turmoil. The
territorial integrity of Iraq, Syria, and Libya – something the West seems to
care about only in the case of Ukraine – was gravely undermined during the Arab
Spring in 2011. These countries remain in a pretty bad shape.

Now, the West has turned to a neighbouring region, namely,
the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian territories, more broadly. There has been an
act of aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In Europe, the Ukraine issue represents the West’s policy of
aiming to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Russia. They don’t hide the fact that
they had been preparing for this for quite some time. With no shame, they are
openly saying that the Minsk Agreements, which were designed to resolve all
problems, were never meant to be implemented. President Putin, then-Chancellor
Angela Merkel, then-French President François Hollande, and then-Ukrainian
President Petro Poroshenko put in 17 hours without sleep working on those
agreements. But afterwards, those very people who sat at one table with him
admitted they never intended to implement anything. They just needed to “put
something on paper” to buy Ukraine time for it to prepare for war with Russia,
and to flood it with weapons. Those same people are now demanding that we
immediately cease fire and leave things the way they are now, just so they can
again buy time for their clients in Kiev and pump more weapons into Ukraine.
The fact that Europeans genuinely seek to “defeat us” is confirmed daily. New
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz recently stated (I’m not sure he understood
what he was saying) that Germany must once again become the strongest military
power in Europe. It was the strongest military power before World War I and
before World War II and started both. Now, he wants Germany to become “Europe’s
top military force” again. German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius stated that
if necessary, Germans would not hesitate to kill Russian soldiers. European elites
are taking this rhetoric as a given. This reflects, above all, the fact that
the West cannot accept the fact of becoming just another strong region in a
multipolar world. It cannot give up the hegemony it enjoyed for half a
millennium. This is visible especially clearly in Europe today which wants to
impose its will on everyone and ignore pragmatic concerns.

The other day, President Donald Trump met with European
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Afterwards, she proudly and
gleefully announced that they had reached an agreement under which European
goods would be exported to the United States with a 15-percent tariff, while US
goods would go to Europe duty-free. On top of that, Europe would spend $750
billion on buying American energy, primarily liquefied natural gas and nuclear
fuel, completely abandoning Russian energy. Furthermore, as President Trump
stated, there would be $600 billion in new investment. No doubt, US energy will
be much more expensive than Russian. This approach will further
de-industrialise Europe and re-direct investment from Europe to the United
States. Sure enough, this decision packs a serious blow especially in terms of
energy prices and capital flight affecting European industry and agriculture.
But figures like Ursula von der Leyen are flaunting their decision to follow
this course. They admit they’ll have to spend more, and that they’ll probably
have fewer resources to address social issues, but claim they must defeat
Russia.

As Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva recently
said, former US President Joe Biden once said in a conversation with him that
Russia must be “destroyed.” Not just strategically defeated, but destroyed.
It’s about a war of annihilation. President Trump, though, holds a different
view. As he’s repeatedly stated, he is guided by common sense, primarily
business and policies that benefit the United States. I’m sure you are
following his moves in international trade. The deal with Europe is clearly lopsided,
and Europe got the short end of the stick. There’s no need to dive deep into
that. President Trump is a pragmatist. He does not want wars. Unlike his
predecessor Joe Biden and current European elites (von der Leyen, Starmer,
Macron, and their ilk), he is open to dialogue.

Even during the Cold War, dialogue was there and helped
opposing camps better understand each other’s intentions, first and foremost,
to prevent a major war. Europe has lost that instinct, and the vaccine against
Nazism has worn off. The same forces that once sought to destroy Russia are now
re-emerging in Europe and have chosen Ukraine as a battering ram that they use
against us. They welcome everything it is doing.

European Commissioner for EU Enlargement Marta Kos affirmed
a month ago that Ukraine had satisfied all prerequisites to commence accession
negotiations with the European Union. Has anyone heard even a whisper of
criticism from Europe concerning Ukraine’s commitment to its human rights
obligations? Language, education, media, culture – Russian has been
legislatively proscribed across all these domains. Furthermore, these laws
began to be enacted long before the special military operation. Europe maintains
that Ukraine is fighting for “European values.” French President Emmanuel
Macron recently asserted that, unlike Russia, Ukraine is waging war for “our”
interests, for “our European values.” This is an admission that they are all
Nazis. Nazism is being resuscitated in Ukrainian society including through
legislation. Obstacles are being dismantled to glorify Stepan Bandera and Roman
Shukhevich, who are equated with Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, and other war
criminals, yet are now exalted as symbols of freedom.

We have consistently championed dialogue, even during the
most challenging times. During the Cold War, dialogue between the Soviet Union
and the United States was never severed.

It is also imperative to acknowledge that mutual respect
existed during the Cold War. Today, it is absent. Europe has simply gone
berserk (I can think of no other word). Much of this is, understandably, a
struggle to retain power. They realise they have invested hundreds of billions
of euros into Ukraine solely to strike Russia, kill our soldiers, orchestrate
terrorist attacks against civilian infrastructure, and dispatch assassins to
eliminate our politicians and journalists. Europe pursues this with one objective
– to use Ukrainians as cannon fodder to eliminate Russia as a competitor. Even
better – to provoke centrifugal tendencies within our society. They actively
engage in this despite measures taken by our leadership to curb the activities
of foreign NGOs and dubious media outlets promoting not the values of dialogue
between our nations’ youth or civil societies, but unequivocally a Western
agenda.

The dialogue we maintain with Donald Trump’s administration
demonstrates that reasonable voices still exist in the West. They command
significant support, as evidenced by recent developments in the United States.

President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly affirmed our
openness to dialogue with any nation, including European ones. When President
Emmanuel Macron called our President, he responded immediately. I do not want
to divulge confidential details, but the conversation yielded little.
Particularly because President Macron later publicly declared that pressure
must be applied to Russia “to accept the immediate and unconditional
ceasefire.” He has long espoused this view. When first questioned, he was asked
whether arms supplies to Ukraine would then cease. He replied no, insisting any
ceasefire must be unconditional. Therein lies the objective – just as the Minsk
Agreements were meant to shake up the Nazi regime of Petr Poroshenko. Now, they
seek a respite.

As I said, the West cannot accept the loss of its hegemony
and continues to pursue purely neocolonial policies. Their sanctions regime
exists to suppress competitors, fearing their unimpeded development, because
emerging power centres have already outpaced them. Remove obstacles, and they
will leave the West far behind. Yes, the West retains strength in military
affairs, technology, biotech, and cyber domains. Yet it cannot merely be a
significant player – it insists on supremacy. At the very least, this is the
mentality of its current elites.

At the same time, a multipolar world is emerging – an
objective and unstoppable process. No sanctions, trade wars, or provocations of
open conflict can reverse it. Despite this, the West continues to pursue such
tactics, following its actions in the Middle East, Ukraine, and Iran. Now,
similar operations are being planned in the Far East, including the South China
Sea, the Taiwan Strait, the East China Sea, and across Southeast and Northeast
Asia, even the Korean Peninsula. All of this aligns with their broader goal: to
preserve global dominance and maintain their status as the hegemon.

The rise of a multipolar world will ultimately prevail,
despite efforts to delay the natural course of history. We are supported by a
wide network of partners, allies, and like-minded nations. Among our closest
allies in the West is the Republic of Belarus, while in the East, the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea stands out, bound to us by decades of
fraternal and military ties. We supported our Korean neighbours in their
struggle for independence, and in turn, they assisted us in liberating the Kursk
Region from Ukrainian neo-Nazis. India also stands as a major and respected
partner on the global stage.

India, China, Russia, Türkiye, and Iran are all ancient
civilizations with deep historical roots spanning centuries. They have endured
and evolved as cohesive civilizational communities – something rarely seen
elsewhere in the world. However, on the Eurasian continent, this continuity
remains a defining feature. Today, these great civilisations are playing a
central role in shaping the emerging multipolar international order. In
practice, this shift is being advanced through organisations like the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO), BRICS, and in collaboration with partners from the African
Union and CELAC, all of whom are actively contributing to this global
transformation.

Interest in cooperation with BRICS and the SCO – already
demonstrated by dozens of countries – continues to grow, contributing to the
establishment of sustainable frameworks for the development of the Global
Majority.

In contrast, the West still relies on institutions created
after World War II, such as the IMF and the World Bank, often using them to
reinforce its dominance. This includes exploiting the role of reserve
currencies, especially the US dollar, and violating fundamental principles like
fair competition and the presumption of innocence. In response, the Global
Majority has, over the past several years, been working through platforms like
BRICS, the SCO, and others to build alternative systems for financial transactions
and banking settlements. New logistical routes are also being developed,
independent of the outdated Western-centric rules established in the postwar
period, when such systems were not yet so heavily abused. These emerging
alternatives are widely welcomed.

Western counterparts are now creating conditions that are
driving more and more countries to distance themselves from the systems under
their control.

I cannot fail to mention our closest circle of partners. Our
allies, like-minded states, and strategic partners from the Collective Security
Treaty Organization (CSTO), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and
the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) – these are all major frameworks whose
activities align with the formation of the Greater Eurasian Partnership. This
includes structures across the post-Soviet space, the SCO, ASEAN, and many
other promising actors. Incidentally, Eurasia is the only continent without a
pan-continental organisation. Africa, despite its numerous sub-regional
structures, has the African Union. Latin America, with its many integration
blocs, has the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. But Eurasia
lacks such a mechanism.

When President Vladimir Putin proposed back in 2015 at the
Russia-ASEAN summit that these sub-regional integration processes be harmonised
– ensuring mutual reinforcement, eliminating redundancies, and ultimately
shaping this Greater Eurasian Partnership – the idea emerged organically. This
was no artificial initiative imposed from above. It is an objective necessity,
one that meets the demands of mutual benefit, optimal resource efficiency, and
maximising the advantages generated by these integrative processes.

In broader terms, this will form a solid material foundation
for constructing a Eurasian security architecture. The current security
frameworks – primarily those established in Europe after World War II, namely
the OSCE and NATO – are rooted in the concept of Euro-Atlantic security. That
is, they inherently require transatlantic colleagues. Of course, those wishing
to cooperate with the United States or Canada remain free to do so. Yet why
should there not be a pan-continental structure open to all continental
nations? Especially now, when President Donald Trump shows little enthusiasm
for maintaining America’s special role in Europe. He believes the continent
should address its own challenges – whether security or economic development –
on terms dictated by Washington to European Commission President Ursula von der
Leyen. Thus, the Eurasian security architecture is knocking at the door. For
the third consecutive year, Minsk hosted the International Conference on
Eurasian Security (2023, 2024) where the Draft Charter on Diversity and
Multipolarity in the 21st Century was reviewed. This document was prepared
jointly with our Belarusian friends. Participation in the first two conferences
demonstrated genuine interest, including from certain European Union states. I
expect their numbers will grow. Therefore, we have much work ahead. The
paramount task is to defeat the enemy. For the first time in history, Russia
stands alone against the entire West. In World War I and World War II, we had
allies. Today, we have none on the battlefield. Thus, we must rely on
ourselves. There is no room for weakness or wavering.

President Vladimir Putin has delineated the objectives we
are pursuing on the international stage – primarily in terms of combat
engagement. These objectives will be realised. We underscore our legitimate
demand: the assurance of our security. Firstly, there must be no inclusion of
Ukraine in NATO – indeed, no further expansion of the alliance whatsoever (it
has already, in defiance of all promises and agreed documents, expanded right
up to our borders). Secondly, there persists the refrain: “Russia must return
to the 1991 borders.” Yet, in 1991, when Ukraine was recognised as an
independent state, its foundational principle was enshrined in its Declaration
of Independence, which explicitly stated: “A non-aligned, nuclear-free, neutral
state.” It was precisely on this basis that Ukraine’s territorial integrity was
acknowledged. When they commenced the obliteration and eradication of
everything Russian, we could not remain indifferent. We attempted persuasion
and negotiations – it yielded nothing. Hence, there was no alternative but to
initiate the special military operation.

Territory is not our priority. Some assert: “They seized
land; it must be liberated.” These territories are not our concern – we already
possess the largest country on earth. What is paramount is the populace who
have dwelled there for centuries – custodians of Russian culture, language, and
education – who aspire to nurture their children within that heritage. They
must not be obliterated; their rights must be safeguarded. This is an entirely
lawful demand. Recognising the realities codified in our Constitution is an
absolute, non-negotiable imperative. We have much work ahead.