Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks during his visit to the 201st Russian Military Base, Dushanbe, June 5, 2023

Comrade servicemen,

Today, I was shown around and had the chance to see in some detail how you live and serve, and how your health is being taken care of.

Congratulations on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of your heroic division. This is especially important at a time where many of your comrades are directly involved in combat missions as part of the special military operation and are giving their lives to prevent anyone from interfering with our lives, lecturing us on how we should run our lives or build our country moving forward, or how to bring up our children or what language to speak. I suggest that we honour their memory with a moment of silence.

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You are the people who are on the minds of all human beings. You are aware of the plans with regard to our country that the West is not just harbouring, but is open about. It’s just like it was with Napoleon or Hitler. They called almost all of Europe to arms and hung up Nazi banners and slogans. Only this time, the Zelensky-led regime was unleashed, nurtured by the United States in a purely Russophobic manner following the precepts of the infamous American political scientists who insisted that no stone should be left unturned to make sure Ukraine parts ways with Russia. No one among us has any doubt that these plans will never be realised. Your comrades, as well as other special military operation participants from the armed forces, private military campaigns, the National Guard, or volunteer militia - everyone who President Vladimir Putin spoke about - deserve the highest words of gratitude. Just like in the 19th and the 20th centuries, they are laying down their lives to uphold our country’s right to freedom and security, loyalty to our culture and traditions, and our children and grandchildren’s right to live in accordance with these traditions. May God let us have many more generations to come!

Notably, having unleashed the Ukrainian regime against us and continually flooding it with the latest armaments, the West never stops looking for more ways to annoy the Russian Federation and open a second or third “front.” The goal of dismembering the Russian Federation has been openly declared by many political analysts and politicians. In addition to South Caucasus, Central Asia has been declared one such front (no one is talking about it openly, but everyone is aware of it). Afghanistan is in turmoil after the “coalition” fled it, having done nothing in 20 years to promote the constructive development of the Afghan state but instead leaving it in a situation where there was a greater threat of terrorism and a sharp increase in drug trafficking which is spreading throughout the world.

Just today, I read that US Ambassador to Tajikistan Manuel P. Micaller made it clear that the Americans were not willing to use force to support the anti-Taliban forces. Allegedly, they want the Afghan people to hold a national dialogue and to agree on how to live in one country and to overcome the daunting challenges left after the 20-year-long occupation of that country by the United States and its allies, among other things. These are, to use the diplomatic lingo, false statements. It is common knowledge that the United States is supporting ISIS, which is still in Afghanistan, and Al-Qaeda, as well as other terrorist offshoots. The goal is simple. Just like they did in the Caucasus at the end of the last decade, their goal is to prevent the situation in Afghanistan from calming down. The United States has a stake in ongoing destabilisation processes there. It is no coincidence that they keep thinking about bringing their military infrastructure back to neighbouring countries, allegedly to be able to provide over-the-horizon responses to terrorist threats. All they want to do is muddy the water and start fishing. They want to get into the region and continue to prevent the countries of the region from running their lives the way they want to and, under the pretext of the threats that they themselves largely create, they want to impose on them their American “rules” which they talk about at every turn, and thus to trample on the international law that is enshrined in the UN Charter.

This location of yours is highly important. The vigilance that you and your colleagues in Abkhazia and South Ossetia are showing is absolutely justified. We can expect anything from the leaders of the United States and other Western countries whom Washington has brought to its heel. They are proving the truth of this statement now that following the supplies of modern long-range artillery and tanks, they are getting ready, in earnest, to supply the F-16 jets. Some say they will make two squadrons available, others say eight. They are gearing up to continue the escalation of the war against us. There’s an ongoing debate about where these planes will take off from. Our armed forces and the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces are well aware of ongoing developments and report to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. We must keep in mind that one version of the F-16 can carry nuclear weapons. If they do not understand this, they are worthless military strategists and planners. We are peaceful people. The only thing we want is to be left alone, so that no one tries to drag us into some kind of a US-led globalist structure or mechanism.

The Westerners want us to be part of the global majority that the Americans, the Anglo-Saxons, and their allies can exploit as was the case in colonial times. Simply put, they want to live at the expense of others. After the Soviet Union had broken up, we had faint hopes that we were no longer adversaries, as was declared, and that NATO would never expand. They lied and continued to lie all the way through these years on any issue that, one way or another, we agreed upon with them in the context of agreements on equal security (even the appearance of equal security). Nothing worked. Neither the promise that NATO would not expand, nor, when it did, the promise that they would not deploy military infrastructure on the territories of its new members. Just like the mediation efforts failed to work in February 2014, when the paper was signed, and the coup took place the next morning. Just like the Minsk agreements did not work, despite the fact that they were approved by the UN Security Council. Last year, the former leaders of Germany and France, Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande, not to mention Petr Poroshenko, opened up on the fact that they were not going to comply with it. They needed to buy some time to flood Ukraine with weapons to be used against the Russian Federation.

We have already figured everything out regarding this golden billion, as they call themselves. If anyone had any doubts, now, it is beyond question. We have a revised edition of the Foreign Policy Concept, which President Vladimir Putin approved in late March. It lays down the priority of our relations with the Global Majority which includes, primarily, our immediate neighbours, such as Tajikistan, all of Central Asia, South Caucasus, Belarus, China, India, and everyone else residing on the vast Eurasian continent. This continent can offer great opportunities if all Eurasian countries start acting for their own good and at the same time look for ways to make it a win-win situation for everyone. These possibilities do exist.

The prototype of the new security architecture and expanding cooperation is the SCO, CSTO, CIS and EAEU. We hope that our Tajikistani hosts who provide this hospitable territory to us, will soon see the benefits of joining the EAEU for themselves. We have people working on it. There is a special consultation mechanism. We will also continue to work at the UN.

As for Europe, our Foreign Policy Concept says (in simple terms) that Europe has chosen the path of war with us. Of course, we still have to live side by side with them. But if this is a war, then we must achieve our goals. Our country’s goals are much more noble than the European ones. Unlike them, we want what is ours; they want what belongs to someone else. We never wanted to take anything from anyone. Every territory that has joined our country since the time of the Russian Empire did it voluntarily. Unlike the United States, we never tried to assimilate anyone into our Russian culture. This culture has always been hospitable to all peoples who joined the Russian Empire or the Soviet Union. Their languages have been preserved. Recently, President of Russia Vladimir Putin mentioned the number of ethnic groups in Russia and, accordingly, languages. A diversity of stunning, bright and colourful dances and songs. They have failed to incite these smaller groups against the state-forming Russian people. The reports from Buryatia, which recently celebrated its anniversary, are very impressive.

Recently, President Vladimir Putin chaired a Security Council meeting on interethnic relations, which are one of the key cementing factors for our Motherland.

First, we see provocations, including from those “who take the sword” and come at us from abroad. Second, in recent years, we have developed a powerful genetic code (or probably preserved it since the days of the Soviet Union). We are a united multiethnic nation. We serve that nation, each in their place. We have taken the oath. I have great respect for military service. We are making every effort to eliminate injustice in the world, relying on our armed forces that are providing tangible guarantees on the ground through our defensive actions, preparedness for any development of events, especially now during the special military operation, in addition to steps to defend the Motherland, its honour, dignity and future. We are relying on these achievements. In many ways, we have set an example.

Yes, there are organisations like the SCO. There is also BRICS, which includes five countries that have global weight. This goes beyond the regional dimension. The isolation that the West keeps talking about has not happened. In fact, the West has isolated itself.

Over the past two years, the delegation I led has visited about 30 countries that are very promising. The Soviet Union had made investments in those countries in the form of support for their anti-colonial struggle, help to create the foundations of state institutions and national economies. Subsequently, those countries found themselves in limbo when the USSR ended. I would not like to recall the reasons it happened now – that was the most difficult period of our life. The Russian Federation first had to “rally its thoughts,” and then to rally its strength. Once ready, Russia started its reforms.

But now it's all over. Over the past couple of decades, we have been returning to Africa and Latin America. We have developed a determination to never again follow the “rules” imposed by Washington, which is losing its former role, not quickly but steadily. More and more countries are becoming disillusioned with it. Everyone knows that the mechanisms created, planned, or imposed by the West on everyone else (so that everyone can live comfortably according to its rules), were suddenly reversed and turned against anyone who tried to preserve their independence and their right to live as they see fit in this world. The Russian Federation, by virtue of our historical codes and roots, and the memory of our ancestors and what they bequeathed to us, was at the forefront of this. That included people with guns, and people in diplomatic suits, and those working on the home front to boost production of whatever we need for the victory, and each and every person, including people in the arts. Some of them write amazing poems. Some of them are unknown, have never been popular before.

The West says President Vladimir Putin wanted to prevent the expansion of NATO but accelerated it instead. This is completely irrelevant. Yes, from a formal point of view, Finland and Sweden were not NATO members. Those countries were neutral. But in reality, they were active in all of the alliance’s programmes for a decade – exercises, manoeuvres, the programme NATO imposed on the EU a few years ago to make them agree to provide their territories for the transportation of military equipment in the event of hostilities. Next, a military base or a squadron could be easily deployed there, after the countries were essentially steamrolled by America and NATO.

What really happened as a result of the war unleashed against us, when they began to create threats right on our borders, left us with no choice but to protect our security and those people who are part of our history and culture, whose ancestors have lived for centuries in lands where speaking the Russian language was suddenly forbidden, and chanting Nazi slogans was required. We had no other choice. What they did was bring us even closer together. If before, part of society was okay with certain trends around us, primarily in Ukraine, now these sentiments have gone or been marginalised. Every cloud has a silver lining. We have this proverb.

I travel a lot and talk to people. You, too, probably feel that the unity of our people is stronger than ever. You are doing part of the work to ensure that this continues to be the case. Thank you very much.