Sergey Lavrov Warns West Is Risking War With Russia… But Ian Borg Says Unsurprising Speech Won’t Intimidate The OSCE

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has criticised the west for pushing its “neo-colonial hegemony” and risking a war with Russia in the meantime, during a speech at the 31st Ministerial Council Meeting of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) currently happening in Malta.

Reacting to this, however, Foreign Minister Ian Borg assured that Russia will not intimidate the OSCE and that this speech did not come as a surprise, in a comment to the Times of Malta. 

Lavrov’s speech, though hard to understand due to technical issues with the interpreting equipment, was very clear in his anti-western message. He praised Eurasian regional organisations and criticised western ones for “abandoning the principles of sovereign equality and mutually respectful dialogue”.

He accused the West of perpetuating double standards, saying that the Helsinki principles are empty words to NATO and the EU, expecting others to abide as long as it’s in line with Western interests.

“Is the fact that all Russian language media in Ukraine is banned not alarming?” he asked.

Lavrov’s attendance of the conference stirred controversy with several other delegations, a handful of whom walked out when he began speaking.

Lavrov was clear in his condemnation to the OSCE’s undermining of consensus, referring to Malta’s decision to remove the visa of his spokesperson Maria Zakharova as another attempt to destroy it [consensus].

He continued to say that the West has begun a campaign to destabilise the Eurasian continent and “as much extract neocolonial profit as possible” from the region. Lavrov referred to increasing military exercises in the South China Sea and Taiwan straits, as well as the US’ expansion of military infrastructure in Asia to exemplify his point.

On the other hand, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the country will continue fighting for its territorial integrity as it opened the conferences first item on the agenda. He described Russia as the world’s biggest security threat and maintained that its expansionist behaviour requires a reaction: “there will be peace through strength, not appeasement”.

What do you make of these latest speeches and reactions?