It would be wrong to say that Washington's and Brussels's policies aimed at isolating Russia are in any way fruitful, said Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov today. Today, he met the participants of the all-Russian youth educational forum "Territory of Meanings".
Sergey Lavrov attends the Territory of Meanings every year. He took part in the forum when it was located in Vladimir Oblast. Now's the first time he's attended the event in Solnechnogorsk, Moscow Oblast, where the Territory of Meanings has moved to this year.
The Eco-environment is the topic of the last ToM shift in 2019. The participants of the forum were asking Lavrov very specific questions. Young people were wondering if Russia may follow the experience of Singapore, which has the heaviest fines for littering. Sergey Lavrov said that he, not as a minister but as a citizen, follows with great interest the discussion surrounding the construction of waste incinerators. He noted that Russia's not likely to adopt Singapore's experience in the same form as it's implemented there. Nevertheless, the environment has gone through major changes recently and Russia's going to change as well.
Sergey Lavrov, foreign minister: "We have a huge territory. That's both our advantage and disadvantage, in a sense that we must take care of this territory. In this regard, the importance of the demographic issue must be noted, especially the importance of the demographic issue in terms of a more even distribution of our citizens across the territory of Russia. Nowadays, it's like there's a magnet pulling everyone towards Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Moscow Oblast. We need to create a competitive environment to make people stay in Siberia and the Far East or even move there from other regions. That's a major issue. It has an impact on our foreign politics, bearing in mind that Russia is a Eurasian state".
Speaking of trends in foreign relations, Sergey Lavrov spoke about the trend Russia supports, which a shift towards polycentric, and hence more just, foreign politics, which is opposed by a small group of states led by the US. Apart from foreign relations, this confrontation also applies to the economy, trade wars are being waged, as well as sports, we all remember the situation surrounding the Olympics. Sergey Lavrov said that today, the Western states realize that the old world order doesn't work anymore and are trying to resist it.
Sergey Lavrov, foreign minister: "I'd even say that the ultra-liberal West-centric model has proved to be unable to resolve the economic issues of humanity, unable to create the right environment where living standards would improve, social issues around the world would be resolved, and economic growth would be accelerated. Once again, that model focuses on living off of others".
With regard to current trends, Sergey Lavrov received a question regarding the recent media publications about Russia being destined for global isolation. The Russian chief diplomat said that the observed reality shows a quite different picture.
Sergey Lavrov, foreign minister: "I often get invitations to visit other countries. I don't beg them to let me in, they invite me. That doesn't look like political isolation. This year, I've visited eight African countries, nine Latin American countries. Speaking of agendas, I've been to several European countries. We've been exchanging delegations with them. The German foreign minister is visiting Russia in a couple of days. The Maltese foreign minister will also be there. It's an endless stream. Speaking of the top level, you can see how many world leaders are interested in contacts with the Russian president".
It's worth noting that the ToM forum will close on August 20th. The first section opened on July 5th. 6,000 people got a chance to study here this year.
Yelizaveta Khramtsova, Alexander Peshkov, and Alexander Shestopalov, Vesti.
