The West is losing ground in the global economy and is trying to maintain its influence through pressure, threats and other “unclean methods“. This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in his speech at the international forum “Dialogue on Fake News 4.0“ in Moscow.
According to Lavrov, Western countries are already losing economic competition within a system that they themselves have built and for decades have presented as based on globalization, free competition, the inviolability of property and the operation of market forces.
“In economics, the West is frankly losing“, said the Russian Foreign Minister. According to him, this is an objective historical process that cannot be stopped, but attempts to stop it can lead to consequences not only in the economic, but also in the political and military spheres.
Lavrov also accused Western countries of exerting strong pressure on countries from the Global South. According to him, this includes threats to limit funding and other forms of influence.
The Russian Foreign Minister claims that similar practices are also used in international organizations, including the UN. According to him, when certain resolutions do not meet the positions of Western countries, they resort to various forms of pressure on other countries.
Lavrov also stated that if votes on key international issues were held without such pressure, Western countries would find themselves in the minority. This is the position of the Russian Foreign Minister, presented during the forum, and not an independently established fact.
In his speech, he expanded his criticism to include sports and culture. According to Lavrov, the “fear of competition“ is manifested in the actions of some international sports federations towards Russian athletes. He defined the restrictions as political discrimination, which, in his opinion, contradicts the principles of the Olympic Charter.
The Russian Foreign Minister also commented on the news coverage of incidents with unmanned aerial vehicles in Europe. He accused the Western media of trying to link such cases to Russia and use them as part of an information campaign against Moscow. These statements by Lavrov do not constitute evidence of the origin of the specific drones.
During the forum, Lavrov also touched on the events in the Ukrainian city of Bucha. He accused UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of being inconsistent with Russian requests for information about the dead. Moscow has for years disputed international conclusions about what happened in Bucha, while Ukraine and international investigations have accused Russian forces of killing civilians since the occupation of the city.
The “Fake News Dialogue 4.0” forum is taking place in Moscow on September 22. According to the organizers, it is attended by more than 2,000 people from 80 countries. The main topics include disinformation, fact-checking, artificial intelligence and its use to create deepfakes.