Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said today, Sunday, that the West deliberately “militarized” in Southeast Asia in an attempt to curb Russian and Chinese interests, which threatens a confrontation between the leaders of Russia and the West at the G20 summit scheduled in Bali.
Lavrov will head the Russian delegation to the summit, which is the first meeting of its kind since the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine last February, after the Kremlin said that President Vladimir Putin is very busy and cannot attend.
The war in Ukraine is expected to dominate the agenda, as Western leaders are likely to face Russia publicly over its military operation in Ukraine and pushing countries like China and India, each of them previously expressed concerns about the war, to criticize the actions of Moscow.
Lavrov in his speech during a press conference at the conclusion of the Southeast Asian Association Summit “ASEAN” in the Kambudian capital, Vanbin, the United States because of its actions in the region, which Russia and the West consider as a possible geopolitical battlefield in the coming decades.
“The United States and its NATO allies” NATO “are trying to control this space,” Lavrov told reporters.
He added that the strategy of US President Joe Biden in the Indian and Hadi area is an attempt to overcome the “comprehensive structures” of regional cooperation, and “the militarization of this region will include with a clear focus on controlling Chinese and Russian interests in Asia and the Pacific.
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Biden had told Southeast Asian leaders that Washington is committed to the construction of the “Indian and Pacific region of freedom, openness, stability, prosperity, flexibility and security”, while identifying the main lines of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the United States and the region.
The ASEAN Association, consisting of ten members, does not include the United States or Russia, but a number of world leaders attended its talks before the G20 summit scheduled for next week in Bali..
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