Lavrov says collective West behaves 'deceitfully' as it is afraid of honest competition

Amid the ongoing ravaging war with Ukraine which continues unabated, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed that the collective West is afraid of honest competition and, as a result, behaves "deceitfully" by cancelling the culture of any nation with a strong national identity.

"The West is scared of honest competition, this is widely known. This is why they ‘cancel’ the culture of any country speaking from its own nationally oriented positions, prohibit TV channels from broadcasting, ban unwanted politicians on social networks and remove everything from the public space that disagrees with the neo-liberal concept of the world order," he told the national broadcaster of Belarus, the TASS news agency reported. 

Lavrov also echoed Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent comments where he termed the West an "empire of lies."

"I absolutely agree with President Putin," the Russian Foreign Minister added. Speaking further, he also slammed the Ukrainian government for "spreading lies" to justify its actions. "It is of no surprise to me that lies have become the Ukrainian government’s stock-in-trade. This was true for the government of Petro Poroshenko and the same applies to incumbent President Vladimir Zelenskyy," Lavrov asserted. 

Talks with Ukraine in existing formats make no sense: Lavrov

The Russian Foreign Minister also asserted that that holding talks with Ukraine in the same formats that existed for the last eight years would make no sense. He claimed that past formats were of little help when asked if a fresh version of an agreement with Ukraine, something that might be referred to as the Minsk-3 pact, should be drafted.  "It would be senseless in the formats that we used for negotiations in the past eight years," he added, as per the TASS. 

Russia-Ukraine war

It is pertinent to mention here that the war between Russia and Ukraine continues unabated and reached its day 121st day on Friday, June 24. In its latest operational update, the Ukrainian Defence Ministry has claimed that Russia has lost nearly 34,530 soldiers since the onset of war in late February. Both the countries have also held several rounds of peace negotiations but they have failed to yield the desired result so far. Meanwhile, the officials of Russia and Ukraine have stated that the peace negotiations between both countries have stalled as of now. 

Image: AP