MINSK, 12 April (BelTA) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov compared the Ukraine peace plan promoted in Switzerland and China’s plan as he talked to journalists after a meeting of the CIS Foreign Ministers Council in Minsk on 12 April, BelTA has learned.
The minister explained that the Chinese idea focuses on addressing the systemic security problems in the common space, dealing with the root causes of the current situation in Ukraine, which he described as a long-prepared hybrid war initiated by the West using "the hands and bodies of Ukrainians." "Only by eliminating these root causes (according to the Chinese approach) can we seriously consider an agreement that will take into account the legitimate security interests of all parties," Sergey Lavrov said.
The Russian foreign minister reiterated the proposals Russia made in December 2021, which echo the statements made by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the 2007 Munich Security Conference. They advocate for the indivisibility of security and practical steps to ensure indivisible security, namely non-expansion of NATO and other security guarantees. These Russian initiatives have been known since 2007. At the Munich Security Conference Vladimir Putin warned the West against the temptation to conquer more and more geopolitical space with an openly anti-Russian approach. "We repeated this in 2008, in 2010. We agreed on the indivisibility of security in the OSCE. At the highest level, the West solemnly committed that no party, no organization in the OSCE area would claim dominance. But in fact, it is engaged in exactly this very dominance," Sergey Lavrov stressed.
"The approaches of China and Switzerland, which is doing the bidding of the United States and its allies, are incompatible. I don't see how you can harness a hedgehog and a timid deer to one cart. It is difficult to imagine," Sergey Lavrov commented.
The Chinese approach, according to him, is "absolutely in tune" with Russia's general philosophy on ensuring security across the entire continent, encompassing Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and other regions.
