Lavrov Calls for Talks on Security Architecture in Euro-Atlantic, Including Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine
Addressing UN General Assembly on September 27, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called for “harmonization of integration projects in Europe and Eurasia” and for “pragmatic discussion” on security arrangement that would also include Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
Lavrov, who in his 16-minute speech slammed the U.S. and its western allies for, among other things, “trying to decide for everyone what is good or evil”, also said that “new dividing lines in Europe should not be allowed” as they can turn into a “watershed between the West and the rest of the world.”
“Russia has been consistently calling for harmonization of integration projects in Europe and Eurasia,” he said, adding that one of the crucial areas of this work would be “to launch pragmatic discussion free of ideology on politico-military architecture in the Euro-Atlantic, so that not only NATO and CSTO [Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization] members but all the countries of the region including Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia enjoy equal and indivisible security and not have to make a false choice of: ‘either with us or against us’.”
He also spoke of the need to “restore Ukraine’s organic role as a binding link between the various parts of the European space which naturally implies the preservation and respect by all of its neutral and non-bloc status.”