Sergei Lavrov spoke in the State Duma

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke on Wednesday in the State Duma as part of the “government hour”. He assured the deputies that the attempts of the “collective West” to build a “cordon sanitaire” around Russia were not successful, and spoke about “new centers of power” with which our country has “expanding mutual understanding.” And the chairman of the Duma Committee on International Affairs, Leonid Slutsky, declared that, unlike the times of Emperor Alexander III, Russia now has three allies: the army, the navy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Sergei Lavrov came to the podium to prolonged applause from the deputies, who thus immediately demonstrated their respect to the minister. The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs hastened to assure parliamentarians that the ministry’s cooperation with them is of a “comradely nature.”

Speaking about the situation in the world, Mr. Lavrov noted the “increasing tension” due to the fault of the “collective West”, which does not want “led by the United States to give up claims to global dominance and its own exclusivity.” According to the Foreign Minister, the United States is taking a “destructive approach” not only to the “Ukrainian issue,” but also to the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East. “By destabilizing region after region, the Americans are trying to control the chaos, but in reality, I think they don’t know what they are doing,” the minister shared. After all, “the key trend in global development” is the “formation of a multipolar world,” which is “reflected in the emergence of new centers of power in Eurasia, the Pacific Ocean, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America,” Sergei Lavrov emphasized. “The plans of the Western minority to isolate Russia and create a kind of cordon sanitaire around us failed,” the head of the Foreign Ministry assured. And he explained what exactly prevented these insidious plans: “new centers of power” are emerging and strengthening, “mutual understanding is expanding” with the countries of the “global East” and “global South.” As examples of such expansion of mutual understanding, the minister cited “the development of external relations of the EurAsEC”, “strengthening the potential of the CSTO”, “confidential dialogue” between President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. In addition, Russia continues to “actively work” in the UN, including within the framework of the Group of Friends for the Defense of the Charter of the United Nations, created a couple of years ago. Mr. Lavrov promised to continue to use the UN platform to convey Russia’s position, and called BRICS “the backbone of the emerging multipolar world.”

At the end of his speech, the head of the Foreign Ministry recalled the upcoming presidential elections in the Russian Federation in a month, noting that they will take place “against the backdrop of an unprecedented Russophobic campaign unleashed in the West.”

He promised that Russian foreign institutions will do everything to ensure that voting by Russians abroad takes place “at a high organizational level.”

The deputies did not so much ask questions as express their proposals to the minister, which he generally approved. Thus, Kazbek Taisaev (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) came up with the idea of ​​​​creating a joint commission of parliament and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to develop a unified history textbook for the CIS countries in order to “prevent the falsification of historical facts” about the Great Patriotic War. The minister replied that he was “open to this kind of thing,” but the main thing is that “the creation of a commission as such does not replace substantive work.”

Andrei Lugovoi (LDPR) was concerned about the practice of “unfriendly” countries, “especially the Anglo-Saxons,” to hire personnel in embassies, bypassing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its Directorate for Services to the Diplomatic Corps (UPDK), which was responsible for the registration of personnel in Soviet times. As a result, according to the deputy, “gardeners, cooks and drivers perform specific tasks, communicate with our citizens on a confidential basis,” and it is impossible to control them.

Sergei Lavrov agreed that it is necessary to “legally deprive foreign representatives of the right to perform the functions of an employer,” and in this case, the use of the UpDK is “an absolutely natural, logical move.”

Yana Lantratova (“A Just Russia – For Truth”) proposed holding a Eurasian Olympiad for schoolchildren, the winners of which could enter universities without exams. Mr. Lavrov supported this idea too. Anna Kuznetsova (United Russia), who heads the Duma part of the joint commission to investigate crimes of the Kyiv regime against minors, came up with the idea of ​​creating a working group to prepare measures to counter the involvement of children in extremist activities. The minister recognized the importance of the topic and promised to consider this issue if Ms. Kuznetsova formulates how she sees this mechanism and “what added value it will have.” And Sangadzhi Tarbaev (“New People”) asked whether Russia plans to establish a visa-free regime with the BRICS countries. Sergei Lavrov responded that work on the unified introduction of simplified visa requirements is not underway. The reason for this is the national specifics and interdepartmental processes characteristic of each country.

The promotion of parliamentary initiatives continued as part of the final speeches from the factions. Dmitry Novikov (Communist Party of the Russian Federation) expressed the idea of ​​moving the UN headquarters from New York, and named Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), Sao Paulo (Brazil), Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia) and Russian Kazan as options. Leonid Slutsky (LDPR) recalled the words of Emperor Alexander III that Russia has two allies – the army and the navy.

“Today, projecting onto our realities, I will say: Russia has three allies – the army, navy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, headed by Sergei Viktorovich Lavrov!” – the deputy exclaimed, drawing applause.

Alexander Babakov (SRZP) said that it is time for Russia to formulate and “offer to humanity” its “manifesto of the future,” which would include “all the thoughts that our president talks about.” Finally, Vyacheslav Nikonov (ER) unleashed his anger on some insufficiently friendly Latin American countries: Argentina, which has changed its mind about joining BRICS, in his words, now “let it stand in line,” and Ecuador, after deciding to transfer Russian weapons to Ukraine, “let it choke on its bananas.” “

After the adoption of the resolution on “taking into account” the minister’s information and approving the activities of the ministry as a whole, Leonid Slutsky took the floor again. The speeches of the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Duma at the beginning of the year have become a good tradition, and no less traditionally, deputies support the plan presented by the minister, summarized the chairman of the relevant committee.

Ksenia Veretennikova