Russia against "regime-change operations" similar to one in Ukraine - Lavrov
NEW YORK. Feb 23 (Interfax) - Russia is against pursuit of foreign-policy interests through operations aimed at changing regimes, as was the case in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said.
"For the disobedient, there are technologies of inspiring internal strife and conducting regime-change operations. Among them is the open encouragement for the anti-constitutional coup in Ukraine," he said at a ministerial meeting at the United Nations Security Council in New York on Monday.
"A broad range of unsightly methods are being used in chasing the illusion of global dominance, such as massive pressure on a sovereign state, attempts to force them to accept others' decisions and standards in the political, economic and ideological spheres," the minister said.
"Since the Cold War ended, there is no more real reason that would stop the UN SC from becoming an efficient platform for rallying collective international will, but the path towards this goal turned out to be much more complicated and windy that appeared to us a quarter of a century ago," he said.
"We are seeing numerous examples of violation of the fundamental principles of the UN Charter, such as the independence and sovereign equality of States, non-interference in their domestic affairs, peaceful resolution of disputes," the minister said.
"It is enough to recall the bombing of Serbia, the occupation of Iraq under a clearly false pretext, the consequences of which are still lying like a heavy burden on the people of this country, and the gross manipulation of the Security Council's mandate, which led to devastation and the continuing chaos in Libya," he added.