Washington Is Fighting Against Emergence Of "Genuine Multipolar World Order": Lavrov Tells UN

In his speech before the UN General Assembly on Saturday which broadly presented Moscow's viewpoint on the state of global affairs, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov frequently lambasted the West while actually mentioning Ukraine very little. 

These are familiar themes, sounded by Putin himself on many occasions recently, seen in the following statement of Lavrov's: "The US and its subordinate Western collective are continuing to fuel conflicts which artificially divide humanity into hostile blocks and hamper the achievement of overall aims," he said. "They’re doing everything they can to prevent the formation of a genuine multipolar world order."

The top Russian diplomat added: "They are trying to force the world to play according to their own self-centered rules."

Another key emphasis was that the West and NATO's role in Ukraine has gone well beyond just a hybrid or proxy war, but it's actually become a "direct" war - given the heavy weapons being provided, targeting assistance given to Kiev, intelligence-sharing, and the fact that Russian soil is now being frequently hit, often by foreign weapons.

Below is a further sampling of key moments and quotes from Lavrov's speech before the assembly...

Direct War

US is “effectively engaged in hostilities with us, using the Ukrainians as fodder.”

"You can call this whatever you want to call this, but they are directly at war with us,” he said. “We call this a hybrid war. But that doesn’t change the reality."

"Empire of Lies"

Americans and Europeans are engaged in "quasi-colonial methods of subjugation."

“Our future is being shaped by a struggle, a struggle between the global majority, in favor of a fair distribution of global benefits… and the few who wield near-colonial methods of subjugation in order to maintain their dominance, which is slipping through their fingers."

"The collective West has … long rejected the principle of equality, looking down to the rest of the world."

“As [Russian President Vladimir] Putin pointed out, the West is the one who is truly an empire of lies."

Provoking Food & Energy Crises

"Unilateral coercive measures" – or sanctions – on weaker nations have provoked a global food and energy crisis.

"We continue to insist on a swift and full cessation of the US’s unprecedented and inhumane blockade of Cuba and the lifting of the absurd decision to declare Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism," he said, while also mentioning the same for Venezuela and Syria.

Sanctions are used to “punish those they don’t like."

Fighting Against Genuine Multipolar Order

Washington and its allies are "doing everything they can to prevent the formation of a genuine multipolar world order."

"The US and its subordinated collective continue to fuel conflicts which artificially divide humanity into hostile blocks and hamper the achievement of overall aims."

“They are trying to force the world to play according to their own self-centred rules.” But the UN Charter seeks to ensure "sovereign equality of states large and small irrespective of their form of government."

Russian media has produced a full transcript of Lavrov's speech here.