Lavrov Brands Today’s World Order as Game of 'Might Makes Right'
08:47 GMT 20.01.2026 (Updated: 12:43 GMT 20.01.2026)
© Sputnik / Yuri Kochetkov
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MOSCOW (Sputnik) - In today's world, the 'might makes right' game is currently in play, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.
"The rules that should supposedly underpin a world order that suits the West — these rules have all been scrapped. A game of 'might makes right' is being played out... We are all witnessing this. But the consequences of this policy are being felt not only by states in the Global South and the Global East; crisis trends are also building within Western society itself," Lavrov said at a press conference on the results of Russian diplomacy in 2025.
On the Ukrainian crisis
Russia is committed to finding a diplomatic solution to the Ukrainian crisis, the minister said.
"We are committed, as President [of Russia Vladimir] Putin has repeatedly stressed, to finding a diplomatic solution to the Ukrainian crisis," Lavrov said.
The EU is trying to undermine US mediation efforts on the Ukraine peace settlement track, while simultaneously attempting to convince President Donald Trump to alter his position on Ukraine, the minister said, characterizing their strategy as laying the groundwork for a war with Russia.
Lavrov stressed that Moscow has consistently demonstrated goodwill to resolve the Ukrainian crisis, but the West has systematically undermined every agreement.
The top diplomat vowed that Russia would unwaveringly defend its interests and not allow its legitimate rights to be violated.
"Russia will steadfastly defend its interests, without encroaching on anyone else's legitimate rights, but also not allowing our own legitimate rights to be treated with disregard," Lavrov insisted.
Moscow will conduct dialogue with international partners according to the principles of mutual respect and equality and is ready to work with anyone who is willing to cooperate based on reciprocity and without blackmail, the minister said, adding that all schemes to isolate Russia have failed.
Relations With the West
EU leaders remain committed to the dogma of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia, Lavrov said.
"While talk of inflicting a strategic defeat on us has died down, it nevertheless, by all indications, remains predominately in the minds and plans of European leaders," Lavrov stated.
European leaders will use meetings at the World Economic Forum in Davos in Switzerland to try to talk US President Donald Trump into changing his position on Ukraine, the chief diplomat cautioned.
"Some meetings have been announced in Davos today or tomorrow, where they will again try to steer President Trump towards approaches that have already utterly discredited themselves and failed," Lavrov said.
The minister expressed confidence that the United States is aware of the need to address the root causes of the Ukrainian conflict, adding that the Trump administration has proposed solutions to this end.
Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky and Europe are frantically trying to impose the idea of a truce in Ukraine on the United States, the top diplomat said.
"But of course, we cannot allow the Kiev regime to rearm again, nor provide it with the opportunity for breathing space to launch another attack on Russia," Lavrov added.
Ukraine is currently in dire straits both on the front lines and politically, and the proposals aimed at propping up the Kiev regime are absolutely unacceptable to Russia, the minister emphasized.
"The security guarantees that [our] European colleagues so honorably tout, claiming they serve the interests of peace, these security guarantees are provided for the current Kiev Nazi regime, we must not forget this," Lavrov stressed.
According to Russia's chief diplomat, the White House's actions with regard to international security were inconsistent and demonstrated a dismissive attitude toward international law.
"We clearly see the inconsistency in the actions of the Donald Trump administration regarding issues of ensuring international security and its attitude towards international law," Lavrov noted.
Russia will continue efforts to establish a greater Eurasian partnership, the top diplomat said.
"We have continued and will continue to promote the key flagship initiatives that President Vladimir Putin has put forward, primarily regarding the formation of a greater Eurasian partnership and, based on this material basis, the creation of a pan-continental architecture of equal and indivisible security," he stressed.
Lavrov called the Trump administration pragmatic and highlighted that it grasps the need not only to unite countries under its leadership, but also to take into account their interests.
"The administration of [US President] Donald Trump, amid all the actions widely discussed right now around the world, is an administration of pragmatists, and it recognizes the need not only to unite numerous countries under its leadership, but also to fully consider their legitimate interests," Lavrov stressed.
Trump’s policy is in line with the rules-based order paradigm, the foreign minister added.
Russia is in contact with the United States on the Balkans, and American colleagues are also ready to cultivate these contacts, but so far they have not led to specific results, Lavrov said.
"We have more opportunities with the United States in the Balkans to contact both Bosnia and Herzegovina and other countries in the region. There are such contacts, but they have not yet led to any positive or any other concrete results. But we are open to these contacts, and as far as I can tell, our American colleagues are also ready to develop them," Lavrov explained.
The Russian foreign minister maintained that the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has fallen so low that it is unclear whether it can be "resuscitated."
"You said that someone was calling for it to be restructured… resuscitated... I do not know how possible resuscitation is in this case. The OSCE has fallen as low as it can possibly go. An organization founded on the principles of equality and consensus has completely degenerated into an instrument that the West, using its majority, sharpens against Russia on a daily basis," Lavrov said.
Russia would nevertheless keep working to prevent the OSCE from "burying itself," he added.
"Our position toward the OSCE is that we continue to participate in it. Not because we harbor any hopes or illusions, as in the current situation any hopes are illusions, but simply because we want to support those OSCE participating states that retain common sense. And there are quite a few of them," the top diplomat said.
The foreign minister added that the OSCE's future role within a new Eurasian security framework or broader partnership remains uncertain.
"I'm not sure. At least because the OSCE is a Euro-Atlantic structure. When it was created, the Soviet Union insisted that participating states be countries located in the western part of the Eurasian continent. But those very countries of today's collective West insisted that both the United States and Canada be included," the diplomacy chief explained.
As a result, a Euro-Atlantic configuration emerged, modeled on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), he added.
"NATO and the OSCE are Euro-Atlantic structures, and as such they are experiencing the deepest crisis of that same NATO," Lavrov said.
The minister went on to point out that ties between Russia and Italy are currently at rock-bottom levels.
"As for relations with Italy, I stand by my assessment that they are at their lowest point," Lavrov affirmed, scrutinizing the current calls by EU leaders for dialogue with Russia as not serious.
"If someone wants to talk, we will never refuse, even knowing perfectly well that ... any agreement with Europe's current leadership is highly improbable. They have become too deeply entrenched in their hatred of Russia," Lavrov told the audience at the press conference.
Russia-China Ties
Relations between Russia and China are unprecedented in their level and depth, as well as in the coincidence of positions regarding the development of the situation in Eurasia and around the world, the chief diplomat stated.
"I have already mentioned our relations with China. They are unprecedented in their level, depth, and convergence of positions regarding the development of the situation in Eurasia and on the world stage in general," Lavrov said.
10 July 2025, 08:48 GMT
Russia-Africa Summit
Moscow is getting ready for the third Russia-Africa summit, the minister pointed out.
"We are currently preparing the third Russia-Africa meeting on the highest level," Lavrov said.
Situation Around Iran, Venezuela
Russia is interested in helping to reduce tensions in all areas, including around Venezuela and Iran, the top diplomat noted.
"We are interested in helping to reduce tensions in all the areas that have now escalated and which I have listed, be it Venezuela and especially the Iranian situation," Lavrov said.
Board of Peace for Gaza
Russia has received a draft charter for the Board of Peace for the Gaza Strip from the United States, Foreign Minister Lavrov said.
"We recently received specific proposals, a draft charter for this structure, and so on," Lavrov said.
US President Donald Trump's Board of Peace initiative reflects Washington's understanding of the necessity to gather a group of countries for a settlement to the conflict, the diplomacy chief added.
Establishing a Palestinian state remains crucial for the Gaza settlement in light of Donald Trump’s Board of Peace initiative, Lavrov stressed.
"We are also convinced that, for a long-term settlement in the Middle East, the UN decision to establish a Palestinian state must finally be implemented, and I would like to emphasize that this criterion remains fully relevant in light of President Trump's current sensational initiative to create the Board of Peace," Lavrov highlighted.
Greenland Crisis
Previously, it was difficult to imagine that the Greenland dispute would put NATO unity into question, the minister said.
"Crisis trends are mounting within Western society itself. Greenland is a clear example of what everyone is talking about, and around which discussions are developing that would have been hard to imagine before, including the prospects for preserving NATO as a unified Western military-political bloc," Lavrov noted.
Tariff-related disputes between the United States, Europe and other countries will persist for a long period of time, the top diplomat added.
"These rather disjointed actions, primarily by the United States, along with the issues that have emerged between the US and Europe and the problems that exist between the United States and a great many countries worldwide concerning tariffs, duties, sanctions, and other measures, reflect an intensifying—and, I must add, not always scrupulous—competition in global markets. All these processes are undoubtedly underway and will, in my view, take a rather protracted period of time," the diplomacy chief maintained.
19 January, 16:05 GMT
