Lavrov disinforms: Russia strives for fair cooperation without conflicts

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has disinformed that Russia is supposedly striving for fair and conflict-free cooperation, although it is known that the country launched an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

What did Lavrov say?

“Russia seeks fair cooperation without conflict and does not want to quarrel with anyone, but insists on compliance with international law and the UN Charter. We don’t want to argue with anyone. We want to work honestly. We do not believe that it is necessary to break the international legal basis of the world order in the form of the UN Charter. It must be respected at all costs,” he said, citing the examples of Serbia, Ukraine and Crimea. “When they rebelled against it and held a referendum, the West said: no, that’s impossible, that’s a violation of territorial integrity. What about Serbia? No, that’s something else,” Lavrov said, writes Sputnik in the news item with the disinformation headline ‘Lavrov on the double standards of the West using the example of Serbia and Crimea’.

Analysis:

Lavrov claims that Russia strives for “fair, conflict-free cooperation”, but the concrete facts speak to the contrary: in February 2022, Russia launched an unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, causing casualties, massive destruction and a large-scale humanitarian crisis. This act directly contradicts the principles of the UN Charter that Lavrov claims to defend – in particular Article 2.4, which prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of another state. So if one state attacks another militarily, it cannot claim to be “against conflict”.

Lavrov is trying to conceal Russia’s aggression and serious violations of international law through disinformation statements. He ignores the facts, twists the law and uses false comparisons to relativize the Russian invasion. At the same time, he mentions Kosovo with the aim of undermining trust in international institutions and claims that the West has “double standards”.

This comparison is manipulative and legally incorrect, as Crimea was annexed by Russia through a so-called “referendum” under military occupation, which was not recognized as legitimate by either the OSCE or the United Nations. Kosovo, on the other hand, declared its independence after a decade of oppression and war. NATO intervened to stop ethnic cleansing and the 2010 ruling of the International Court of Justice legitimized its declaration of independence as compatible with international law. All of this proves once again Lavrov’s intention to conceal Russian aggression in Ukraine.

/The Geopost