MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin said on July 9 the West's influence was waning as its economy declines but warned Russian diplomats to be on their guard against a backlash from Moscow's former Cold War enemies.
In a biennial speech to Russian ambassadors, Putin also took
a shot at the West by condemning any unilateral actions to solve
international disputes and underlined the importance of
resolving such conflicts through the United Nations.
His remarks suggested that Russia, a veto-wielding permanent
member of the Security Council, would keep on defending ally
Syria at the United Nations over its military crackdown on an
popular uprising that has evolved into an armed insurgency.
“Domestic socio-economic problems that have become worse in
industrialised countries as a result of the (economic) crisis
are weakening the dominant role of the so-called historical
West,” Putin told a meeting of Russian ambassadors from across
the world.
He told the envoys, gathered in Moscow, that they should try
to influence events where Russian interests were at stake.
“Be ready for any development of the situation, even for the
most unfavourable development,” he said in the 20-minute speech,
parts of which were televised.
Putin’s speech was sprinkled with the hawkish rhetoric that
has made many foreign policy experts predict a turn for the
worse in relations with the United States following his return
to the Kremlin in May.
The economic problems faced by the European Union are the
“tip of the iceberg of unresolved structural problems that is
facing the entire world economy,” he said.
Such comments, portraying Russia’s oil-fuelled economy as
stable and in a much better state that the debt-ridden euro
zone, are not only aimed at the West but also at protesters in Russia who say Putin’s return to the presidency will usher in
economic and political stagnation.
The speech, delivered in the wood-panelled halls of the
Foreign Ministry’s headquarters, was a hallmark of Putin’s first
presidency, which started in 2000. It now provides an
opportunity to set out Russia’s foreign policy initiatives.
Putin reiterated accusations that the West is engaging in
unilateral diplomacy outside the United Nations to maintain
influence in world politics, and implied again that the West was
behind the Arab Spring revolutions.
“We are seeing attempts by individual players in the
international community to keep the influence they are used to
by which our partners often use unilateral actions that
contradict international law,” he said.
“This can be seen from the so-called humanitarian operations
… and intervention in internal conflicts.”
Under his predecessor as president, Dmitry Medvedev, Russia
did not veto a U.N. Security Council resolution that paved the
way for military intervention in Libya.
But Putin has criticised the military action that followed
as a “medieval crusade” and made clear he will not allow the
Security Council to repeat such action over the conflict in
Syria.
“The search for compromises in a peaceful way should become
an imperative,” he said.
