New York [US], September 24: As Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine is about to move into its 20th month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has stressed his country isn't interested in a "large-scale war," in remarks to UN representatives on Saturday.
"It is entirely up to us how history will play out," he told the General Debate of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly taking place in New York this week.
"It is in our shared interest to prevent a downward spiral into large-scale war and to prevent the final collapse of the mechanisms for international cooperation," Lavrov said, without explicitly naming Moscow's war in Ukraine, launched on February 24, 2022.
He also did not directly refer to fears that the conflict might lead to a nuclear confrontation.
The ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine has already come at a great cost for the armies of both sides, and the civilian population across Ukraine lives with the constant fear of Russian airstrikes. Millions of Ukrainian refugees have fled to safety throughout Europe.
So far all attempts to mediate in the conflict have failed. Ukrainian forces are currently engaged in a counteroffensive to retake Russian-occupied territory in the south and east of the country.
"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. They're doing everything they can to prevent the formation of a genuine multipolar world order," Sergey Lavrov said.
"They are trying to force the world to play according to their own self-centred rules," he said.
Source: Qatar Tribune
