Moscow fixes the West's unscrupulous attempts to use the situation in Ukraine to provoke anti-Russian sentiments in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries, but these actions are doomed to fail. The Russian foreign ministry responded to media inquiries for a press conference on the results of Russian diplomacy in 2022 published on Monday.
"We see absolutely unscrupulous attempts by the West to take advantage of the situation around Ukraine to artificially provoke anti-Russian sentiments in the CIS countries, to drive a wedge into our good-neighborly and mutually beneficial relations," the Russian foreign ministry stated. - "They not only put Russia's friends and allies before the choice "either with them or against us," but also want to destroy the multifaceted ties that unite us. This is nothing less than blatant and brazen interference in the internal affairs of the Commonwealth states, an attempt to manipulate public consciousness and impose alien values and pseudo-democratic standards."
"We are convinced that all these attempts are doomed to fail," stressed the diplomatic mission.
The ministry noted that the vast majority of citizens of the near abroad are capable of "sorting out the truth and lies on their own." "We oppose the Westerners' shenanigans by further strengthening of political and diplomatic contacts, trade and economic and humanitarian cooperation. We use the whole range of interaction in education, culture, mass media, human contacts and so on. Such work is supported by the activities of the representative offices of Rossotrudnichestvo, including the preservation and development of the Russian language as an effective means of international communication, holding interregional forums, the establishment of joint educational institutions, implementation of media projects, exchange of creative teams," said the diplomatic mission.
Interaction with Central Asia
The foreign ministry also stressed that Central Asian states are strategic partners and allies of Moscow, regular political contacts are held, trade, economic and investment partnership grows.
"The total volume of accumulated Russian investments in the region exceeded $47 billion, and our trade turnover with Central Asian countries in the first half of 2022, despite all destructive efforts of the West, increased by 16.2% compared to the same period last year and amounted to about $20 billion," the diplomatic mission said. In addition, the foreign ministry reminded that there are 26 branches of Russian universities and other educational institutions with teaching in the Russian language in the region.
"Under such conditions there is hardly any reason to speak about a real growth of anti-Russian sentiments in the public opinion of Central Asia, no matter how much pro-Western NGOs and activists sponsored by the US and the EU want this in some countries of the region. As for cases of so-called domestic nationalism against Russian-speaking citizens, they become a subject of our concern and are met with an adequate response from local authorities," the ministry said in its response.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
Photo: Akishin Vyacheslav/Creative Commons 2.0
Based on materials from TASS