Israel’s security, Africa’s awakening, end of Western dominance: Main takeaways from Lavrov’s interview with RT

The Russian foreign minister has revealed his thoughts about the most pressing international issues dominating the news today

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has spoken to RT in an exclusive interview that aired on Wednesday. The conversation largely revolved around the new escalation in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas and ways to potentially resolve it. The top diplomat also spoke about the crumbling “rules-based order” promoted by the West and the emerging multipolar world, the ongoing “awakening” of Africa, and other current events.

Russia’s stance on Gaza conflict

Moscow maintains its position that the ongoing hostilities in the Middle East should be brought to an end as soon as possible, Lavrov stated. Resolving the increasing “humanitarian problems, which are all over the place,” must be “an absolutely necessary first step” to remedy the situation.

“When the Israeli reaction to [the] October 7 massacre became known, we strongly condemned what Hamas did and, at the same time, we called immediately for [a] measured response in full accordance with international humanitarian law,” Lavrov explained.

Risks of greater war in Middle East

Those who are floating “scenarios” in which third parties get involved in the hostilities might actually be trying to “provoke a bigger crisis” in the region – or even beyond it, Lavrov suggested. “Maybe this is what the Americans want,” he said.

“The Americans, normally, whenever they come to a region of this planet, they bring chaos, which they believe they can manage, bring victims among civilians. I don’t even want to mention Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria – none of these places, where they declared they wanted to bring democracy, none of these places is better off when they interfered, under a false pretext quite often, like it was in Iraq,” the minister pointed out.

Thus far, however, major regional players have shown “no appetite” for a bigger war, “unless Gaza is no longer considered as a place where Palestinians should continue to live,” he said. “I believe that neither Iran nor Lebanon want any involvement in this crisis.”

Creating Palestinian state ‘unavoidable’

The only way to reach a long-term solution for the conflict in the Middle East is through the implementation of respective UN Security Council resolutions and the creation of an independent Palestinian state, the top diplomat explained. Creating such a state serves the best interests of Israel as well, given that Moscow has been telling West Jerusalem for years that it cannot actually “buy” its security, Lavrov noted.

“The creation of a Palestinian state is unavoidable. We all must take a deep breath and think about how we restore Gaza, how we make sure that no one is expelled from Gaza, that there’s no movement into Egypt and into Jordan of all those who used to live in Gaza,” Lavrov said.

Era of Western dominance over

The minister also spoke about the emerging multipolar world and the end of Western dominance.

“The West has been calling the shots in the world for over five centuries. And this era is over. It will take time for this era to be replaced by multipolarity, which has already started to take shape,” he said. He named China, India, Iran, the Gulf countries, and Latin America as some of the new centers developing, and all of them “want to have a better role” in this imminent multipolar world.

The US talk about creating its own new world order for the whole of “humanity” is based on a “superiority complex and lack of analysis,” the minister noted, adding that the West’s so-called rules-based order has proven to be nothing but a front for Washington’s interests.

“The Americans invent the rules, which they insist everybody must follow, as long as these rules serve American interests. As soon as others become a bit more efficient than the US itself, the rules are changed,” Lavrov said.

Africa awakening

The foreign minister also reminisced about the Russia-Africa Forum hosted by the country in St. Petersburg in July. While the continent “awakened from colonialism long ago,” Africa now appears to be going through another stage of its “awakening” and wants its due share of its own riches, instead of having its “resources pumped raw into developed countries,” he explained.

“Africa does not want any longer to be a very rich continent which does not enjoy the richness it possesses,” he concluded.