Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov connected Sunday accused Western leaders of looking to militarize Southeast Asia to incorporate Moscow and Beijing’s interests successful the region.
“The United States and its NATO allies are trying to maestro this space,” Lavrov told reporters successful Cambodia.
He was speaking astatine a property league astatine the extremity of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) acme successful Phnom Penh, and up of the G20 acme successful Bali aboriginal this week.
Lavrov is representing Moscow astatine the G20 gathering successful Indonesia aft the Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin is excessively engaged to attend.
Lavrov said the U.S.’s Indo-Pacific strategy, which President Joe Biden was promoting astatine the ASEAN summit, ignored “inclusive structures” of determination practice and would pb to “the militarization of this portion with an evident absorption connected containing China, and containing Russian interests successful the Asia-Pacific,” Reuters reported.
On Saturday, Biden pledged astatine the ASEAN acme to assistance basal against China’s increasing dominance successful the region, saying: “We’ll physique an Indo-Pacific that is escaped and open, unchangeable and prosperous, resilient and secure.”
Russia has been seeking person ties with Asia since Western sanctions pursuing Moscow’s penetration of Ukraine.
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