Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov used the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting in New York to lambaste the West and continue building up the growing Global South community that is aligning with the BRICS-leg alternative geopolitical pole in international politics.

Heading the Russian delegation, the veteran foreign minister held more than 35 meetings over three days while participating in the high-level week of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly, where he gave a wide-ranging speech.

Lavrov was speaking on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin who last attended the UN session in 2015. He is precluded from going now as he is under threat of an arrest warrant from the ICC on charges of kidnapping children, and would be arrested if he appeared in New York. US ally Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also facing an ICC arrest warrant on war crime charges, but attended the meeting anyway and addressed a largely empty hall after most delegates, with the majority from the Global South, walked out as he began to speak. Many countries also left the hall at the start of Lavrov’s speech.

Ukraine

Reacting to US President Donald Trump’s social media post last week, where he made a dramatic U-turn on Ukraine, the US president also suggested that Ukraine could return to its 2022 borders, expelling Russian occupiers.

"You know, as regards the 2022 borders, I think nobody counts on that because hoping for a return to those borders would be political blindness and a complete failure to understand what is going on," he said in response to a TASS reporter’s question at a press conference after his UN address.

Lavrov said that Russia has been protecting its own legitimate interests and the “legitimate interests of Russian-speaking people” in Ukraine following a “coup d'état” in 2014 – the Kremlin’s alternative description of the EuroMaidan revolution.

"If the agreement signed between the [Ukrainian] president and the opposition, with Germany, France, and Poland acting as guarantors, had been signed in February 2014, and if it had been implemented, Ukraine would have been in the 1991 borders now," he added.

Nato

Tension with Nato escalated rapidly in the last weeks after Russia began testing its eastern air defences with a drone incursion on into Polish airspace on September 10. That was followed the next day by a brief incursion into Romania’s airspace. Then three Russian fighter jets flew into Estonia’s air space for 12 minutes a few days later.

According to reports, leading EU diplomats met with Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov at the weekend and told him if any Russian drones or planes enter Nato airspace again they will be shot down, in a significant escalation.

Lavrov warned that shooting down Russian planes would have “serious consequences,” but referred only to Russian planes flying in Russian airspace.

During his speech he once again harped on about Nato’s eastern expansion, saying that it is not only threatening Russia and China but the alliance is also trying to put the military ring around Eurasia.

"Nato is already present in Europe and it has penetrated into the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea, and the Taiwan Strait, undermining the universal mechanisms of ASEAN and posing threats not only to China and Russia but also to other regional players as well," Russia’s top diplomat said. "The Nato leadership has justified the latest stage of expansion with `the indivisibility of security in Euro-Atlantics and the Indo-Pacific’ as it is trying to tighten the military ring around the entire Eurasia," he added.

Lavrov told the 80th session of the UN General Assembly that Moscow “has never had, and does not have” intentions to attack Nato or the European Union, stressing that any aggression against Russia would be “decisively rebuffed.”

“We have repeatedly proposed to Nato capitals that they respect their commitments and agree on legally binding security guarantees. Our proposals have been ignored and continue to be ignored.

"Moreover, threats to use force against Russia, which is accused of practically planning to attack Nato and EU countries, are becoming increasingly common,” Lavrov said. Putin had “repeatedly debunked such provocations,” adding: “Russia has never had, and does not have, such intentions. However, any aggression against my country will be decisively rebuffed. There should be no doubt about this,” Lavrov said.

Lavrov complained that international security has deteriorated recently. "And I’ve already mentioned why. And the main reason why is the ambition to retain the hegemony based on military force. Increasingly more countries and regions are getting involved in confrontational schemes," he explained.

Iran sanctions 

Lavrov called the West’s rejection in the UN Security Council of the initiative by China and Russia on anti-Iran sanctions, sabotage on September 27. 

"Yesterday in the Security Council, the West rejected the rational proposal by China and Russia to extend the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran to allow time for diplomacy. This fully revealed the West’s policy of sabotaging the search for constructive solutions in the UN Security Council and its pursuit of unilateral concessions from Tehran through blackmail and pressure," Russia's veteran foreign minister said. "We consider such a policy unacceptable, and all Western manipulations aimed at restoring UN anti-Iran sanctions, as well as the sanctions themselves, to be illegal," Lavrov stressed, reports TASS.

Earlier the same day, the UN Security Council rejected a draft resolution proposed by Russia and China that sought to extend for six months the validity of UNSC Resolution 2231, adopted in support of the Iran nuclear deal.

Palestine 

There is no justification for the collective punishment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip or for plans to annex the West Bank, he said during the plenary session. 

He said there is “no justification” for Israel’s actions that have led to the deaths of Palestinian civilians, including children, and the destruction of hospitals and schools in Gaza.

"Russia condemned the attack by Hamas militants on peaceful Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023. However, there is no justification for the brutal killing of Palestinian civilians, just as there is none for terrorist acts," Lavrov said. "There is no justification for the collective punishment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, where Palestinian children are dying under bombings and from hunger, hospitals and schools are being destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of people are left homeless. There is no justification for plans to annex the West Bank."

He went on to add that the world is in fact "dealing with an attempt at a sort of coup d’etat aimed at burying UN decisions on the creation of a Palestinian state."

"The other day, a number of Western governments announced their recognition of the State of Palestine. Yet they had signaled their intention to do so several months ago. The question arises: why wait so long?" Lavrov asked. "Apparently, they were hoping that soon there would be nothing left to recognise."

Venezuela

As the fracturing of the world continues, the BRICS nations are increasingly banding together to confront what China and Russia have dubbed the unipolar world. Lavrov also threw Russia’s support behind Venezuela, which is facing a US military build-up, rocket attacks on its shipping and attempts to interfere in the country's internal affairs.

"Sergey V. Lavrov declared the categorical inadmissibility of using instruments of forceful pressure on sovereign states as an instrument of foreign policy. He expressed solidarity with the Venezuelan leadership in the face of growing external threats and attempts to interfere in internal affairs, and reaffirmed its full support for Caracas' efforts to defend national sovereignty," according to the statement following the minister’s meeting with his Venezuelan counterpart Yvan Gil Pinto.

The foreign ministers also outlined further steps to deepen foreign policy coordination at multilateral forums, particularly within the Group of Friends of the UN Charter.

As part of the multipolar world that Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping are promoting, Russia would like to see the UN reformed to become more representative of the global community and expanding the Security Council to include permanent members from Asia, Africa, and Latin America, specifically naming Brazil and India, while correcting what he called “historical injustices” against Africa.

Lavrov also urged democratisation of the IMF, World Bank, and WTO in line with the rising influence of the Global South and warned against what he termed Western attempts to replace the UN Charter with a “rules-based order.”

“Equality is the foundation of an objectively emerging multipolarity. Russia is not advocating for revolution against anyone … We simply call on member states and the leadership of the Secretariat to strictly adhere to all the principles of the UN Charter without double standards,” Lavrov said.

India visit

Lavrov also confirmed that Putin will visit India in December. The BRICS group is becoming increasingly coordinated and Russo-Indian relations have only deepened after Trump doubled tariffs on India to 50% in August. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been a frequent visitor to Moscow and appeared most recently at the SCO summit in China as a guest of honour along with Putin.

"We have full respect for India’s national interests and fully respect the foreign policy pursued by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to advance his country’s national priorities. We maintain regular high-level contacts. Just recently, Prime Minister Modi and President Putin met in Tianjin at the SCO summit in China. In December, a state visit of President Putin to New Delhi is being prepared," Lavrov said at the post speech  press conference.