‘Russia does not consider itself to be at war with NATO, but NATO does,’ Lavrov tells Al-Arabiya 

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Updated 01 May 2022
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‘Russia does not consider itself to be at war with NATO, but NATO does,’ Lavrov tells Al-Arabiya 

  • Remarks made in exclusive interview given by Russian FM to the news channel’s UN bureau chief, Talal Al-Haj 
  • Lavrov said the problem with humanitarian corridors is that “they are being ignored by Ukrainian ultranationalists” 

DUBAI: Moscow does not consider itself to be at war with NATO, but NATO does, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has told Al-Arabiya in an exclusive interview.

He brushed aside UN chief Antonio Guterres’ proposals for humanitarian assistance and evacuation of civilians, saying: “There is no need for anybody to provide help to open humanitarian corridors. There is only one problem … humanitarian corridors are being ignored by Ukrainian ultranationalists.

“We appreciate the interest of the secretary-general to be helpful … (We have) explained … what is the mechanism for them to monitor how the humanitarian corridors are announced.”

Asked about the risks of war spilling into Moldova after a series of explosions rattled a breakaway border region within the country, Lavrov said: “Moldova should worry about its own future … because they are being pulled into NATO.”

In an hour-long interview with Talal Al-Haj, Al-Arabiya news channel’s New York/UN bureau chief, which aired on Friday night, Lavrov offered the Russian government’s perspective of the Ukraine conflict, which is now into its third month, having already claimed tens of thousands of lives, civilians as well as soldiers, on both sides.

“Unfortunately, NATO, it seems, considers itself to be at war with Russia,” he said. “NATO and EU leaders, many of them, in England, in the US, Poland, France, Germany and of course EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell, they bluntly, publicly and consistently say, ‘Putin must fail, Russia must be defeated.’ When you use this terminology, I believe you think that you are at war with the person who you want to be defeated.”

The Russian government has said its “special military operation” in Ukraine is aimed at protecting Russia’s security and that of Russian-speaking people in the eastern Donbas region. Western nations have accused Russia of invading a sovereign country and of committing war crimes.

Since the invasion began on February 24, the US, UK and EU have sanctioned more than 1,000 Russian individuals and businesses and wealthy businessmen, with the US banning all Russian oil and gas imports.

The financial measures are designed to damage Russia’s economy and penalize President Vladimir Putin, high-ranking officials, and people who have benefited from his rule.

Lavrov said: “To believe that this latest outrage and the wave of sanctions, which eventually showed the real face of West which, as far as I now understand, has always been Russian-phobic, to believe that this latest wave of sanctions is going to make Russia cry uncle and to beg for being pardoned, those planners are lousy and of course they don’t know anything about foreign policy of Russia and they don’t know anything about how to deal with Russia.”

The conflict has prompted NATO members and allies to pledge billions of dollars in military support to Ukraine. Weapons systems being supplied to Ukrainian forces include surface-to-air missiles, heavy artillery and surveillance equipment.

The Biden administration has agreed with Western allies to hold monthly meetings to assess the needs of the government in Kyiv, raising fears that the war in Ukraine will, as NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg put it, “drag on and last for months and years.”

NATO says it will do all that it can to support Ukraine while ensuring that the war does not spill over beyond its borders into neighboring countries.

But Lavrov said that NATO’s cooperation with Ukraine was little more than “an instrument to contain Russia and deter Russia and irritate Russia.”

He said that Russia knew the routes being used to supply Ukraine with arms, and “as soon as these weapons are reaching Ukrainian territory, they are fair game for our special operation.”

Lavrov said Russia has put forward many proposals to end the war in Ukraine but drawn a blank so far. Ukraine was at fault for the stalled peace talks, he said, blaming what he said was the government’s changing negotiating positions.

Russia has accused the Pentagon of funding and developing biological weapons in a number of laboratories across Ukraine. In January this year, the US denied the accusations and claimed that the laboratories are there to “reduce the threat of biological weapons proliferation.” Lavrov categorically rejected the US assertions.

Lavrov also accused the West of sabotaging the peace attempts, claiming that negotiations in Istanbul last month had been progressing on issues of Russian territorial claims and security guarantees until Ukrainian diplomats backtracked at the behest of the West.

“We are stuck because of their desire to play games all the time,” he said. “Because of the instructions (the Ukrainian representatives) get from Washington, from London, from some other capitals, not to accelerate the negotiations.” 

Lavrov reiterated the Putin government’s position that Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine is aimed at protecting the two self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in Donbas.

“The goal of our operation, it was announced openly, is to protect these two republics and to make sure that no threat will ever emanate from the Ukrainian territory to the security of these people and to security of the Russian Federation,” he said.

In late February, President Putin recognized the region, allowing Russian troops to be present in those territories. Russia has been aiming to protect the two republics because “they have been under attack from the Ukrainian regime for a long, long eight years,” Lavrov said.

“When the coup happened in 2014, they said they don’t want to have anything to do with these people who came to power illegally and they said, ‘leave us alone, we want to understand what is going on.’ They never attacked the rest of Ukraine.”

Lavrov was referring to the overthrow of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014 after months of protests in Kyiv’s Independence Square, or Maidan, against his refusal to sign an agreement that would have integrated Ukraine more closely with the EU.

Around the same time, Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine and threw its support behind the Donbas insurgency. Since then, Donetsk and Luhansk have been controlled by separatist governments backed by Moscow.

“The (leaders of the Donetsk and Luhansk republics) were (proclaimed) terrorists, an anti-terrorist operation was launched by the butcher leader who came to power by force through illegal means, and for eight long years they have been victims of Ukrainian aggression, killing like 13,000 or 14,000 civilians, destroying civilian infrastructure and many, many other crimes were committed by the Ukrainian regime against them,” Lavrov said.

He said that Russia’s “special operation” was a “response to what NATO was doing in Ukraine to prepare this country for a very aggressive posture against the Russian Federation.”

Referring to the Ukraine government he said: “They were given offensive arms, including the arms which can reach the Russian territory, military bases were being built, including on the Sea of Azov, and many dozens of military exercises, many of them on Ukrainian territory, were conducted under NATO auspices.

“Most of these exercises were designed against the interests of the Russian Federation, so the purpose of this operation is to make sure that those plans do not materialize.”

Tracing the roots of the Ukraine conflict, Lavrov said: “During all these years we have been initiating draft treaties, draft agreements with NATO, with countries of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe and lately in December last year we proposed another initiative to the US and to NATO to conclude treaties with both of them on security guarantees to all countries in the Euro-Atlantic space without joining any military alliance.”

 

He was referring to the OSCE, the regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the UN whose mandate includes issues such as arms control, promotion of human rights, freedom of the press, and free and fair elections.

“Every time we initiated these steps, they were basically rejected with more or less polite behavior. In 2009, we proposed the European Security Treaty which NATO refused to consider and the treaty actually was about codifying something to which all OSCE countries subscribed at the top level.”

According to Lavrov, Russia had suggested that countries be given the right to choose their alliances and not to strengthen their security at the expense of the security of another country, meaning that “no single organization in Europe can pretend to be a dominant player in this geopolitical space.”

Lavrov said NATO responded to Russia by saying that there would be no legally binding security guarantees outside NATO, which he believes makes the OSCE “just lip service.”

He said that the last such attempt by Russia took place in December 2021, before launching the operation in Ukraine, as a response to the “increasing tension and confrontation” over the years.

This Russian initiative, according to Lavrov, was rejected by NATO because it did not want to sacrifice its “open doors policy,” which “does not exist in the Washington Treaty (which forms the basis of NATO)” and used as a “cover to promote NATO expansionist plans.”

“NATO, despite its promises and promises of its leaders, was moving closer and closer to the Russian border and they were telling us, ‘Don’t be afraid, we are a defensive alliance and we will pose no threat to your security.’”

He acknowledged that NATO was a defensive alliance when there was a Berlin Wall and a “geopolitical wall between NATO and the Warsaw Pact” after World War II.

But “when the Warsaw Pact disappeared, when the Soviet Union ceased to exist, NATO decided that the line of defense should be moved to the east and they did move this line of defense five times.”

“Foreign Secretary of Britain Liz Truss one of these days stated that NATO must be a global player so we can listen for so many times about the defensive nature of this alliance but this is a lie.”

Lavrov accused the Ukraine government of “cancelling everything Russian,” including “the language, education, media and day-to-day use of the Russian language was made an administrative offense.”

Elaborating on the accusation, he said: “The Ukrainian regime intensified, at the end of last year and early this year, shelling of the eastern territories of the country in Donbas, in the worst violations of the Minsk Agreements which were signed in February 2015 and endorsed by the Security Council resolution. When they were targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, schools, hospitals, kindergartens, we didn’t have any other choice.”

Lavrov cautioned that his remarks that the risks of a nuclear conflict should not be “underestimated” if the US and its allies continued to arm Ukraine should not be taken out of context.

“We were never playing with such dangerous things. We all should insist on the statements made by the P5 (UN Security Council permanent members), that never ever there could be a nuclear war. But to make sure that this is the case, the West must discipline speakers like our Ukrainian and Polish colleagues, who see no danger in playing with such very, very risky words.”

Lavrov said Western media outlets were misconstruing his words but “we are used to it.”


Vietnam says second round of trade talks started in Washington

Updated 5 sec ago
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Vietnam says second round of trade talks started in Washington

HANOI: Vietnam and the United States have started a second round of trade negotiations in Washington, the Vietnamese government said on Tuesday as it seeks a deal to avoid a threatened 46 percent tariff rate that could weaken its export-driven growth model. The second round of formal talks for a bilateral trade deal began on Monday and will run until May 22, the trade ministry said in a statement. The first round of talks was held earlier this month.
“The two countries had discussions on the overall approach to resolving fundamental issues of mutual concern and accelerating the negotiation process,” the ministry said.
“Vietnam and the US are also speaking about current policies as a basis for proceeding to next steps.”
Trade Minister Nguyen Hong Dien is leading the delegation, which includes representatives from sectors such as construction, agriculture and technology, as well as officials from the central bank and finance ministry.
Dien also
met with his US counterpart
Jamieson Greer in South Korea last week, following an APEC meeting.
The US has delayed the implementation of the 46 percent tariff on Vietnam until July, substituting it with a 10 percent rate. If enforced, the tariff could disrupt Vietnam’s growth, given its heavy reliance on exports to the US, its largest market.
Vietnam, which is a significant regional manufacturing base for many Western companies, recorded a trade surplus of over $123 billion with the US in 2024.
In a bid to reduce that surplus, Hanoi has
implemented several measures
, including curbing shipments of Chinese goods to the US via its territory and increasing its purchases of US goods.
Dien also held discussions on nuclear technology with US power company Westinghouse on Monday, the ministry said, after the government last year resumed plans to develop nuclear power plants.
Westinghouse did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside of US business hours.
In a separate statement, the finance ministry said state energy firm PetroVietnam planned to buy more crude oil from Exxon Mobil, while the country’s rubber and maritime corporations were both looking to establish US facilities.

New Zealand defers vote on rare suspension of Indigenous lawmakers

Updated 10 min 41 sec ago
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New Zealand defers vote on rare suspension of Indigenous lawmakers

  • The Te Pati Maori members performed the haka last November

SYDNEY: The New Zealand government on Tuesday deferred a vote over the rare suspension of three Indigenous lawmakers from parliament for performing a haka, the Maori ceremonial dance, during the reading of a contentious bill last year.

A parliamentary privileges committee last week recommended temporarily suspending three Te Pati Maori parliamentarians for acting in “a manner that could have the effect of intimidating a member of the house.”

The Te Pati Maori members performed the haka last November ahead of a vote on a controversial bill that would have reinterpreted a 184-year-old treaty between the British and Indigenous Maori that still guides policy and legislation.

Co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi should be suspended for 21 days and representative Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke for seven days, the committee said.

Chris Bishop, the leader of the house, said delaying the vote would allow the suspended members to participate in the federal budget on Thursday. The vote will take place following the budget, he said.

“Deferring consideration of the debate means all members will have the opportunity to debate and vote on the budget,” Bishop said.

Several protesters gathered outside the parliament in Wellington for the vote over the suspensions, and New Zealand media reported they might perform a haka in support of the Maori lawmakers.

Judith Collins, who heads the privileges committee and serves as attorney-general, told parliament that the haka forced the speaker to suspend proceedings for 30 minutes and that no permission had been sought to perform it.

“It’s not about the haka ... it is about following the rules of parliament that we are all obliged to follow and that we all pledged to follow,” Collins said.

Suspending lawmakers is rare in New Zealand’s parliament, with the last occasion in 1987, according to media reports.

The opposition Labour party called for a compromise and proposed censure instead of suspension.

The committee’s proposal is “totally out of line with existing parliamentary practice and is disproportionate to the allegations,” opposition leader Chris Hipkins said.

“We have never seen a sanction of this nature in New Zealand’s history before ... it is disproportionate. A sanction is appropriate, this level of sanction simply is not.”

The haka was traditionally a way for Maori to welcome visiting tribes or to invigorate warriors ahead of battle. It is now performed at important events as well as ahead of matches by New Zealand’s rugby teams.


Taiwan says ‘willing’ to talk to China as island boosts defenses

Updated 30 min 39 sec ago
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Taiwan says ‘willing’ to talk to China as island boosts defenses

  • China has rebuffed Lai’s previous offers to talk

Taipei: Taiwan is prepared to talk to China as equals but it will continue to build up its defenses, the island’s President Lai Ching-te said Tuesday as he marked his first year in office.

Lai, a staunch defender of Taiwan’s sovereignty and detested by Beijing, delivered wide-ranging remarks on the need “to prepare for war to avoid war” and also bolster the island’s economic resilience.

After promising to stand up to China and defend democracy at his inauguration, Lai insisted Taiwan was “willing” to communicate with Beijing if there was “parity and dignity.”

China has rebuffed Lai’s previous offers to talk.

“Peace is priceless and there are no winners in war,” Lai said, but added “we cannot have illusions” and vowed to continue “to strengthen our national defense capabilities.”

Taiwan will “actively cooperate with international allies, shoulder to shoulder to exert the power of deterrence, to prepare for war to avoid war, and to achieve the goal of peace,” Lai told journalists at the Presidential Office.

China, which claims Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to annex it, has held several rounds of large-scale military drills around the island since Lai took office.

Taiwan’s coast guard warned Monday that China may use “cognitive warfare” to “disrupt public morale” as Lai marks the first anniversary of his inauguration.

As Taiwan comes under pressure from Washington to move more factories to US soil and reduce their trade imbalance, Lai said Taiwan would not “put all our eggs in one basket.”

Taiwan would increase its economic resilience by diversifying markets and boosting domestic demand.

Lai also announced plans to set up a sovereign wealth fund to “boost Taiwan’s economic momentum,” but did not provide details about its size.

The president has seen his first term in the top job engulfed in domestic political turmoil as opposition parties, which control the parliament, seek to stymie his agenda.

The main opposition Kuomintang party (KMT) has called Lai a “dictator” and accused him of pushing Taiwan closer to war with China, while Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) suggests the KMT is a tool of Beijing and is undermining Taiwan’s security.

Tensions have escalated into physical fights inside parliament and thousands of supporters of the DPP and opposition parties holding rival street protests.

On Tuesday, Lai said the government wanted to “strengthen cooperation among political parties” and that his national security team would start providing “important national security briefings” to the opposition.

“On the basis of the same facts, we can exchange views frankly and sincerely, discuss national affairs, and work together to face the challenges of the country,” Lai said.

Analysts said Lai’s remarks were more restrained than in previous speeches, which have drawn criticism from Beijing.

“Lai is dialling down the messaging and keeping Taiwan’s head low to avoid getting into anybody’s crosshairs amid this geopolitical uncertainty,” Wen-Ti Sung, a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub, told AFP.

National Cheng Kung University politial science professor Wang Hung-jen said Lai “was careful to know when to stop.”

Lai has seen his approval rating fall to 45.9 percent from 58 percent nearly a year ago, according to a survey by Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation in April.

His disapproval rating rose to 45.7 percent — the highest since he took office — which the polling group linked to the Lai government’s handling of US tariffs on Taiwan and the DPP’s unprecedented recall campaign targeting the opposition.

DPP supporters are seeking to unseat around 30 KMT lawmakers through a legal process that allows legislators to be removed before the end of their term.

While the threshold for a successful recall is high, the DPP only needs to win six seats to wrest back control of parliament.

A rival campaign to unseat 15 DPP members has been embroiled in controversy after KMT staffers were accused of forging the signatures of dead people.

The KMT has also threatened to recall Lai.


Indian boycotts grow of Turkish coffee, chocolates and fashion 

Updated 41 min 57 sec ago
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Indian boycotts grow of Turkish coffee, chocolates and fashion 

  • Distributor body that supplies 13 million mom-and-pop grocery stores announces “indefinite and total boycott” of Turkish goods
  • Indian fashion websites owned by Walmart-backed Flipkart and Reliance have removed numerous Turkish apparel brands

MUMBAI: Small Indian grocery shops and major online fashion retailers are boycotting Turkish products ranging from chocolates, coffee, jams and cosmetics to clothing amid growing anger at Turkiye’s support for Pakistan in a confrontation with India. 

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan expressed public solidarity with Pakistan, another majority-Muslim country, after India conducted military strikes in response to a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir. Cross-border fighting continued for four days before a ceasefire was declared.,

On Monday, the All India Consumer Products Distributors Federation (AICPDF), which supplies 13 million mom-and-pop grocery stores, said it was launching an “indefinite and total boycott” of all Turkish-origin goods, which would affect chocolates, wafers, jams, biscuits and skincare products.

Indian fashion websites owned by Walmart-backed Flipkart and billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance have removed numerous Turkish apparel brands, according to three sources and a review of their websites

Flipkart’s fashion website Myntra removed listings of Turkish brands including Trendyol, known for women’s clothing, street and casual wear brand LC Waikiki and jeans producer Mavi, said one source with direct knowledge.

Myntra removed the brands “in the national interest” without Walmart’s involvement, a second source with direct knowledge said.

Reliance’s fashion website AJIO also removed Turkish brands, including Trendyol, Koton, LC Waikiki from its app, and many of those listings were shown as out of stock on Monday. A source cited “national sentiments” as a reason.

Flipkart, Reliance Retail and the Turkish brands Trendyol, LC Waikiki, Koton and Mavi did not respond to requests for comment.

India has not ordered companies to boycott Turkiye, and India’s annual $2.7 billion in goods imports from Turkiye are dominated by mineral fuels and precious metals. 

But a consumer boycott could still be significant. AICPDF said its ban would affect around 20 billion rupees ($234 million) of food products. Apparel imports were worth $81 million last year, according to the Trading Economics reference website.

Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, chief minister of Himachal Pradesh, one of India’s biggest apple-growing states, said on Monday he would ask for a ban on apple imports from Turkiye, which were worth around $60 million last year. 

Moreover, last week Flipkart said it was suspending flight, hotel and holiday package bookings to Turkiye “in solidarity with India’s national interest and sovereignty.” 

Indians have been canceling holidays to Turkiye and New Delhi has canceled the security clearance of the Turkish-based aviation ground handling firm Celebi. Reuters reported on Friday that Air India was lobbying Indian officials to disallow rival

IndiGo’s leasing tie-up with Turkish Airlines, citing business impact as well as security concerns sparked by Ankara’s support for Pakistan.


One dead as rains choke India’s tech capital

Updated 39 min 38 sec ago
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One dead as rains choke India’s tech capital

  • The Times of India newspaper reported Tuesday at least three people had died

Bengaluru, India: Torrential rains have swamped parts of India’s tech capital Bengaluru, killing at least one person, an official said, and exposing long-standing infrastructure failures in a city that has expanded at breakneck speed.

Rapid growth of the southern city dubbed India’s Silicon Valley has left many waterways covered over or used as dumps, leading to water stagnating every year during heavy rains.

“Storm water drains are encroached upon, the drains are shallow and small, and they are filled with silt,” chief minister of Karnataka state Siddaramaiah said late Monday.

“Instructions have been given to the municipal corporation multiple times to clear them, and work is still ongoing,” he added.

Siddaramaiah said it was a “matter of sorrow that a woman lost her life” in Bengaluru, the state capital which is home to more than 10 million people.

The Times of India newspaper reported Tuesday at least three people had died.

India is hit by torrential rains and flash floods each year during the monsoon season, and experts say climate change is increasing their frequency and severity.