NATO Making ‘Overtures’ To India Against China: Russia Foreign Minister Lavrov

Speaking in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Western countries, especially the US, has taken 'out of context' the concept of Indo-Pacific and has given it 'a new meaning'.

Lavrov said countries like India and China are developing and have massive growth potential. ( Image Source :Getty )

New Delhi: NATO is not just focusing on Europe to expand its influence but it is also making “overtures” to India in order to create more issues between New Delhi and Beijing, says Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. 

“NATO is not limited to organising life on the European continent. In June 2022, NATO’s Madrid Summit declared that the military bloc had a global commitment, specifically in relation to the Asia-Pacific region, which they call the Indo-Pacific region,” Lavrov said at a presser Wednesday in Moscow even as he once again criticised the Indo-Pacific strategic framework. 

The Russian minister added: “It is clear that they are attempting to make overtures to India to create additional problems in its relations with China. Their battle cry is the indivisibility of security in the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions. Mere wordplay." 

He said that the Western countries, especially the US, has taken “out of context” the concept of Indo-Pacific, and has “given a new meaning — the indivisibility of interests of NATO and the Indo-Pacific region". Lavrov said the difference is "obvious”. 

He also said countries like India and China are developing and have massive growth potential but the West is not letting that happen.

“Countries are developing economically. Look at China and India (our strategic partners), Türkiye, Brazil, Argentina, Egypt and many African countries. Considering their immense natural resources, their development potential is enormous,” he highlighted.

“New centres of economic growth are emerging. The West is trying to prevent this, in part, by exploiting the mechanisms created to service its interests within the globalisation framework it created,” said the Russian foreign minister. 

‘What Is Happening In Ukraine Is Result Of Preparations By US’

On the Russia-Ukraine War, Lavrov said what’s happening in Ukraine now is a result of the US actions.

“What is happening in Ukraine now is the result of preparations by the US and its satellites for the start of a global hybrid war against the Russian Federation. Nobody is hiding this fact,” he added.

Lavrov stressed: “Our Western partners are cunning while vehemently trying to prove that they are not fighting Russia but are only helping Ukraine respond to an 'aggression' and restore its territorial integrity. The scale of their support makes it clear that the West has staked a great deal on its war against Russia; this is obvious.”

He also said that the events surrounding Ukraine have brought to light the “implicit push by the United States to drop attempts to reinforce its global position with legitimate means and to adopt illegitimate methods to ensure its dominance”.

“Once revered mechanisms and institutions that were created by the US-led West have been discarded (and not because of what we are seeing in Ukraine). A free market, fair competition, free enterprise, the inviolability of property, and the presumption of innocence, in a word, everything the Western globalisation model relied on collapsed overnight,” he highlighted.