MOSCOW, April 25. /TASS/: Several countries support the United States and blame China for the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with Bolshaya Igra ("Big Game") program on Russia’s Channel One.
According to him, the trends that have manifested globally for the last couple of decades, "have significantly accelerated and escalated" during the pandemic.
"Look at what is happening between the United States and China. The United Kingdom, Australia, and a number of European countries are actively supporting the United States, almost demanding a compensation from China, threatening to seize property, seize accounts so that China pays for the mistakes it was faulted for during the first weeks, the first months of this infection," the minister added.
Authorities in Japan, South Korea, Singapore
Asian countries with strong vertical system of governance are effective in combating coronavirus, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
"Among countries whose democratic base is not questioned by any of our Western friends, the most effective regimes and governments are those not among the pioneers and ideals of liberalism. I mean Asian countries - South Korea, Japan, Singapore - countries with a sufficiently strong vertical system of governance, although no one deprives them of the title of democracies," he said.
"Of course, I don’t want to gloat over the fact that democracy mentors are experiencing difficulties. On the contrary, we sympathize with everyone who has taken the hardest blow from the coronavirus, we provide possible assistance," the minister said. "But in general, if we analyze the ability of states to counter this threat - then, of course, these data is quite convincing," he added.
Lavrov noted, that long before the current events it was clear that countries that profess a liberal world order, when it comes to their vital interests, "can act very, very illiberally." "Remember how these liberals bombed the former Yugoslavia, how they bombed Iraq under an absolutely false pretext, for which Tony Blair later apologized when he admitted that there were no weapons of mass destruction. And, of course, what happened to Libya, what the United States is trying to do with Venezuela are by no means liberal methods, sharpened to ensure human well-being," the minister said.
Focus on fighting the coronavirus
The international community should focus on fighting the coronavirus, and not on the situation around the suspension of US contributions to the budget of the World Health Organization (WHO), Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
"The United State is the main contributor to the WHO budget, so if we take relative figures, then among the experts who determine the activities of the WHO secretariat the majority are Americans, including senior positions, and I strongly doubt that these Americans work in complete isolation from their government," Lavrov said. "But never a single employee of the secretariat, no matter their citizenship, refused contacts with delegations of member countries if they have any questions," he said.
"Therefore, I would … concentrate, first of all, on the necessary measures for the development of vaccines, along with precautionary measures, self-isolation, quarantine and so on," Lavrov said.
On April 14, Trump announced that Washington had suspended contributions to the World Health Organization. According to him, the money will not be transferred until the assessment of the organization’s role in hiding the data on the spread of coronavirus.
