UNHRC Discredited Itself Long before Developments around Ukraine, Says Lavrov - Tasnim News Agency

The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) discredited itself long before the current situation around Ukraine began, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.

"We withdrew from the Human Rights Council on our own. They wanted to expel us from it, to suspend our membership. We decided to do it ourselves. The Council discredited itself long before the current situation around Ukraine began," he said, TASS reported.

On April 7, the United Nation General Assembly gathered for a special session on Ukraine and passed a resolution on the suspension of Russia’s membership in the UN Human Rights Council. On the same day, Russia’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Gennady Kuzmin said that Russia had decided to terminate its membership in the UNCHR, adding that the Council "has been actually monopolized by one group of countries who are using it in their selfish interests."

Members of the UN Human Rights Council (47 countries) are elected by the UN General Assembly for a term of three years. Russia was a UNHRC member in 2006-2012 and in 2014-2016 and was elected for its third term, which began on January 1, 2021.

Lavrov said that Western politicians that say Russia should suffer defeat are bad at history.

"Once again, we are now living through such a period in our history. They say that Russia must "be defeated", they must "defeat Russia", make Russia "lose on the battlefield," he said at an event entitled One Hundred Questions for a Leader. "I am sure that you know history better than the Western politicians who are casting these ‘spells.’"

"They must have done poorly in school," Lavrov went on to say. "They have drawn the wrong conclusions from their understanding of the past and of Russia.".

Russia will rely only on itself and on those countries which have proved their reliability and are not "dancing to anyone’s tune," Lavrov said.

"We will rely only on ourselves and those countries, which have proved their reliability and which are never dancing to anyone’s tune. If Western countries change their mind and suggest formats of cooperation, we will think," he said, adding that if the West wants to offer anything to Russia in terms of the resumption of relations, Moscow will think twice whether it needs that.

"When they are through with their frenzy and see that Russia is still here and is growing stronger year after year. If they want to offer anything in terms of the resumption of relations, we will think twice whether we need it or not very much," he said at an event entitled One Hundred Questions for a Leader.

He also stressed that it is vitally important for Russia to be independent in critically important spheres. "We are not merely working on import substitution. We must cease to depend in any way on supplies of anything from the West in order to ensure the development of sectors of critical importance for our country’s security, economy and social sphere," he said.

The economic interaction between Russia and China will gain momentum in the near future because the West "holds the dictator’s position," Lavrov said.

"Currently, when the West holds the dictator’s position, our economic ties will China will grow faster. Further to the direct revenue for the government budget, it provides us with an opportunity to implement projects of ramping up the Far East and Eastern Siberia," the Minister said. "The bulk of projects with China is evolving and is being implemented right there. This is an opportunity for us to realize our potential in the sphere of high technology, including the nuclear power segment, and in the whole range of other spheres," he added.

Relations between Moscow and Beijing are based on doctrinal documents "characterizing [these] contacts as the strategic partnership and the multi-aspect interaction," the Russian top diplomat said. "We have the long border with the People’s Republic of China and common interests in defending principles of fairness and the multi-polar world order in international affairs. The mutual economic benefit is obvious," Lavrov noted.

Russia needs to focus on the Eurasian region in further development of the country and its capabilities, Lavrov said.

"The global growth center has been shifted to Eurasia at present. We have the most extensive network of partnerships in the Eurasian region at the moment. We need to rely on them in further development of our country, its transport, transit and logistical capabilities," he said.

Eurasia "is becoming the most promising region of the world," the Minister noted.

"We need to deal with its development, not using someone else’s tools like the dollar, the SWIFT system of financial messages transfer, but by creating our own ones. This is not too difficult to make," the Russian top diplomat said. "We are already increasing significantly the share of trade serviced in national currencies of partner states: Russia - China, Russia - India, Russia - Iran, and within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union. There is a need to look forward. Yes, this is a challenge. We should deal much more actively with development of our country. However, this is also a great upside and opportunities," Lavrov added.