Sergey Lavrov said power is slipping through the hands of the old order, dominated by Washington, which has long rejected the principle of equality.
Americans and Europeans “make all kinds of promises…and then just don’t keep them,” he told delegates.
Quoting President Vladimir Putin, he said the West was “truly an empire of lies” that had plotted an offensive against their Soviet allies even while fighting Nazism in World War II.
Soviet and then Russian leaders “received concrete political guarantees regarding the non-expansion of the NATO military alliance to the east,” which turned out to be pure deception.
Washington and Brussels have relentlessly sought to expand their interests and alliances to subordinate the South and East, rejecting Russia’s desire for mutual security guarantees, he said.
Western ‘hybrid war against our country’
On Ukraine, he said the West had “continued its ongoing militarization of the Russophobic regime in Kiev,” which came to power in a “bloody coup” in 2014, and had taken the opportunity to “launch a hybrid war against to lead our country.”
The goal since then has been Russia’s strategic defeat, he argued, with the US-led offensive now extending into space and disinformation online.
Mr Lavrov said it was “clear” that the creation of subordinate alliances was “targeted against Russia and China” in an attempt to sabotage more “inclusive” regional forums.
He said that even in terms of culture, the anti-colonial “global majority” has had enough of the Western “yoke” and attacks on their religions, traditional values and sovereignty.
He saw Russia and China as defenders of a new multipolar architecture – the emerging world order – and now the West is doing everything it can to block it.
‘Coercive measures’
Russia’s Foreign Minister denounced the US-led use of unilateral sanctions and “coercive measures” in defense of Cuba, Venezuela, Syria and others, as Washington continues its efforts to “Ukrainize” the international agenda.
He said it is time for a complete reform of the “global governance architecture”, including the UN-led international financial mechanisms and the key bodies of the United Nations – along with what he said was a secretariat biased in favor of the capitals in NATO and the European Union.
Mr Lavrov spoke in favor of expanding the Security Council to Asia, Africa and Latin America.
He said reforms must be based on a new, balanced consensus, giving the example of the BRICS bloc of economic powers – which will expand beyond Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Prevent ‘large-scale war’
Mr Lavrov concluded his case with a call for compromise, saying: “Humanity is at a crossroads… It is in our common interest to prevent a downward spiral towards full-scale war.”
He invoked the Secretary-General’s call for world leaders to meet and negotiate in the spirit of compromise at this year’s UN General Assembly, “in shaping our common future for our common good.”
“This is an excellent response to those who divide our world into democracies and autocracies and dictate their neo-colonial rules to others,” he concluded.
Full explanation in Russian available here