Lavrov Predicts Downfall of Western Economic Leadership

©AFP 2022 / MIKHAIL METZEL

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday that the West was bound to lose its leading role in the global economic hierarchy.

"The revision of risks and threats stemming from such dependence [on the Western leadership] is progressing rapidly. I assure you that we will soon see the West's capacity to steer the global economy shrink drastically," he told Russian media.

Lavrov said that many countries were increasingly disillusioned with the West after initially seeing the "instruments and mechanisms" at its disposal as promoting a global balance of interests. Russia, in particular, came to distrust the West after the recent breakdown in bilateral ties.

"We will not be running after the West after it severed almost all ties… We will seek out those who have never let us down and with whom we had to make difficult compromises in the past — but once we agreed on something they never failed us," he said.

Lavrov argued that the Biden administration was bent on universalizing its vision of Western liberal democracy, as described by American political scientist Francis Fukuyama in his 1992 book, "The End of History and the Last Man."

Russian Foreign Ministry: Any prediction about the end of the Ukrainian crisis is out of the question now

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said that the Ukrainian crisis has been prolonged and has taken on a long-term character, and any prediction about the date of its end is now out of the question.

Galuzin indicated that the West is ready for "the complete and unconditional victory of Kyiv" with the "return" of all new Russian regions to Ukraine (Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson provinces, as well as Crimea).

"Moreover, Westerners also expect us to pay compensation and rebuild Ukraine, and talk about their intentions to hold courts, convict and hold our country's leadership accountable," the deputy minister added.

He explained, "In other words, according to the logic of Kyiv and the West, we must withdraw from the liberated lands, rebuild everything that was destroyed, pay compensation, go to prison...and only after that will the Ukrainians return to negotiations."

"These preconditions cannot be the basis for a constructive conversation," the diplomat said, mocking the absurdity that the West and Kiev want, noting that if Zelensky had not become president and continued to play his role in the Russian humorous KVN television program to give funny answers to questions and play pre-prepared roles.

How Oil Prices Affected the Global Economy in 2022

Moscow has warned that it will not supply oil at prices artificially imposed by the Group of Seven (G7), the EU and Australia, in violation of free market rules. Moscow stands ready to reduce oil production in response to the price cap. So how have oil prices affected the world's economy during 2022, and what is to come?

Russian MoD’s briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine

• In the Kharkov region, up to 20 Ukrainian soldiers, an infantry fighting vehicle and two vehicles were destroyed as a result of a concentrated fire strike on the accumulation of troops and equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.



• In the DPR, Russian artillery defeated the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine;



• In the LPR, a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group and a mortar crew were destroyed. The losses of the enemy in this direction amounted to more than 30 troops, two armored combat vehicles and two pickup trucks;



• As a result of a strike on the command post of the 80th Airborne Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near the city of Kramatorsk, DPR, more than 35 Ukrainian troops, including five senior officers, were killed. The total losses of the enemy per day in this direction amounted to up to 100 military personnel, four infantry fighting vehicles and eight vehicles;



• In the DPR, Russian ground forces and artillery defeated Ukrainian units. More than 40 Ukrainian troops, two armored combat vehicles and three pickup trucks were destroyed.



• Russian missile forces and artillery hit 63 artillery units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in firing positions, manpower and military equipment in 79 districts. In the DPR, the points of temporary deployment of the 72nd Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as foreign mercenaries, were hit;



• During the counter-battery fight in the Donetsk People's Republic and the Zaporozhye region, two Ukrainian Grad rocket launchers were destroyed;



• Three Ukrainian D-30 howitzers were destroyed in the areas of the settlements of Torskoe, Vodyane and Maryinka in the DPR;



• In the area of the settlement of Georgievka in the Donetsk People's Republic, an M777 artillery system manufactured by the United States was destroyed, from which residential areas of the city of Donetsk were being shelled;



• Near the city of Kramatorsk, DPR, a Ukrainian weapons repair and restoration center was destroyed, which contained two US-made HIMARS rocket launchers, two Gvozdika self-propelled howitzers, five D-30 howitzers and three units of special vehicles;



• Air defense systems destroyed seven Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in a day.