The Russian government this Saturday accused the leaders of the group of the seven most industrialized democracies (G7), meeting in Japan, of making decisions with the dual purpose of containing Russia and China.
“Look at the decisions being discussed and adopted today in Hiroshima at the G7 summit aimed at the double containment of Russia and the People’s Republic of China”said Russian Foreign Minister Serguei Lavrov.
According to the official TASS news agency, Lavrov’s response came at a meeting of the Russian Foreign and Defense Policy Council.
The leaders of the group consisting of Germany, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom, plus the European Union (EU), will meet this weekend in the Japanese city of Hiroshima.
The G7 has already approved the strengthening of sanctions against Russian interests to reduce Moscow’s ability to finance the war it has been waging against Ukraine since it invaded the neighboring country on February 24, 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Hiroshima today to attend the summit and hold bilateral meetings with G7 members and other invited countries.
Zelensky has already met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has never condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and maintains close ties with Moscow.
G7 leaders also criticized the use of “economic coercion” as a political weapon, in an allusion to China, and Beijing’s policies towards Taiwan and the South China Sea.
They also defended the need to reduce “excessive dependence” on the Asian giant in economic terms.
In statements made by TASS, Lavrov said that the western path of the Russian Federation’s foreign policy has been “completely exhausted”.
Russia has “entered a phase of acute confrontation with an aggressive bloc comprising the United States, the European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance” [NATO]he claimed.
Lavrov said the task of Moscow’s enemies was “loud and clear” and aimed at “defeating Russia on the battlefield” but also “eliminating it as a geopolitical competitor”.
“Basically any other country that claims some kind of independent place in the global alignment will also be suppressed as a competitor,” he said, referring to China.
Lavrov also said, without specifying, that Western experts are already “openly discussing” the development of break-up scenarios for the Russian Federation.
“It is not hidden that Russia’s existence as an independent center is incompatible with the realization of the West’s goal of world domination,” he added, according to TASS.
Russia’s war against Ukraine plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
The number of civilian and military casualties in the conflict is unknown, but several sources, including the United Nations, have admitted it will be very high.
Source: DN
