Russian Defence Minister: ‘The US and its allies have severely eroded the global security architecture’

Photo: Russia MoD

On 28 April 2023 a meeting of the heads of defence ministries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) countries was held in New Delhi, Russian MoD informs.

The meeting was attended by the defence ministers of Russia, India, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, the SCO Secretary-General and the Director of the Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure.

In his report to the meeting of the defence ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation member states, Russian Minister of Defence General of the Army Sergei Shoigu raised international and regional security issues and further strengthened defence cooperation.

The Russian Defence Minister stated that in a bid to maintain global dominance, the US and its allies have severely eroded the global security architecture. At their initiative, the process of breaking and dismantling key arms control and confidence-building agreements was set in motion.

‘At first, Washington unilaterally terminated the US-Soviet Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, refused to ratify the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty, then withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and Shorter-Range Missiles and the Treaty on Open Skies’, Sergei Shoigu stressed.

General of the Army Sergei Shoigu noted that the meeting took place against the background of a highly volatile international environment.

‘Fundamental, dynamic, and irreversible changes are taking place as the new multipolar world takes shape. This is actively opposed by the collective West’, he stated.

He also noted that the USA and their allies were trying to reshape the system of inter-state relations through the creation of subordinate regional alliances.

‘Meanwhile, independent states are under unprecedented pressure, using blatant blackmail, threats, colour revolutions, and coups d'état, and spreading gross disinformation. All this has long been a hallmark of the West.’

As the Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation stated, ‘as a result, the security arrangements and cooperation formats that have been developed over the decades are put to the test, frozen inter-state tensions are exacerbated, and the risk of local crises escalating into large-scale conflicts is growing’.

‘In this connection, I would like to recall that Russia initiated a strategic stability dialogue with the West in 2021, which was supposed to address all security issues and identify possible ways of resolving them by political and diplomatic means. However, our proposals in this regard have been rejected, indicating unwillingness to build an equal partnership’.

General of the Army Sergei Shoigu stated that the Russian side has already stressed the importance of building equal and indivisible security, of preserving the central role of the UN, of upholding its Charter and its purposes and principles aimed at maintaining peace and stability.

The Russian Defence Minister invited the counterparts from the SCO member states to participate in another Moscow Conference on International Security 2023.

‘I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to attend the 11th Moscow Conference on International Security. The event provided a meaningful forum for discussing the most pressing military-political problems, which is becoming particularly relevant in the current context’, Sergei Shoigu noted.

At the same time, he stress that it was important to strengthen the role of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation as one of the pillars of the new multipolar international system, a model of inter-state relations based on equality and mutual respect, and observance of international law.

‘It is necessary to maintain close coordination within the SCO and to hold regular consultations on common security issues, both in multilateral and bilateral ways’, Sergei Shoigu noted.

Minister of Defence General of the Army Sergei Shoigu noted that the conflict in Ukraine is a clear demonstration of this criminal policy. ‘Its real aim is to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, threaten China, and maintain its monopoly position in the world’.

‘Today, Washington and its enablers are pursuing their strategic agenda of provoking other countries into military confrontation with undesirable states, most notably Russia and China. The conflict in Ukraine is a clear demonstration of this criminal policy. Its real aim is to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, threaten China, and maintain its monopoly position in the world’, Sergei Shoigu stressed.

According to him, ‘more than five billion US dollars were spent on the Maidan anti-constitutional coup in 2014, leading to the formation of a hostile nationalist, Russophobic regime on our borders, which has rushed eagerly to solve the 'Russian question' in Ukraine.’

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