Lavrov Says West Seeks To Punish Russia, China By Sanctions, Provocations

The West is trying to punish Russia and China by various unsuitable tools, including sanctions, Sergey Lavrov said at a plenary session of the State Duma on Wednesday.

"The West is trying, as they say, to punish dissidents, who pursue an independent policy, primarily our country and China, by various unsuitable tools such as different kinds of sanctions, demonization in the media space, provocations carried out by special services and so on," the top diplomat noted.

Lavrov pointed out that "the West led by the US" was trying to confront the objective course of history, seeking to secure a one-sided advantage for themselves "not really considering the interests of others, in fact not taking them into account at all."

"Washington and its allies are persistently imposing their own vision of international life on the global community, calling it the need to establish and respect an order based on rules. As part of this concept, the West arrogates to itself the right to set up rules in various fields, completely ignoring the principle of genuine, universal multilateralism, embodied in the UN, thereby undermining international law and the UN-centric architecture of international ties," the Russian top diplomat said.