Russian foreign minister says West has signed ‘death warrant’ for US dollar

ISTANBUL

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday said the West has signed a “death warrant” for the US dollar by turning it into a weapon against its competitors.

“The dollar … has been turned into a weapon for suppressing and punishing geopolitical competitors, and simply those who are disobedient. Thus, in essence, they (the West) have written a death warrant for the dollar as a global reserve currency and a means of international settlements,” Lavrov said in an address to the international science fiction symposium in Moscow.

Accusing the US and its allies of destroying globalization that they have “nurtured and advertised to the entire world,” Lavrov argued that many principles including fair competition and the inviolability of property were forgotten “overnight” in the West.

Lavrov said Russia is not closing itself off from dialogue with the West, but has drawn conclusions from how it “suddenly abandoned their promises and commitments,” as well as agreements with Moscow.

He said countries in the Eurasian continent must determine their own destiny without outside interference and solve their problems in a way that contributes to building a multipolar world.

“If and when they (Western countries) mature enough to resume contacts and establish relations based on the principles of mutual respect and a fair balance of interests, then we will decide how to treat such proposals based on our national interests, and not on the desires that we periodically hear from Western capitals,” Lavrov added.

He said talks at the intergovernmental level on the principles of coexistence of states in a multipolar world are going slowly, but Moscow will continue dialogue on this topic at multilateral venues, including the upcoming G-20 summit in Rio de Janeiro later this month.

“The West continues to try to extract unilateral advantages for itself, not shying away from any methods, including, I emphasize this with particular regret, the privatization of the secretariats of international organizations,” he added.