US 'devaluing' international law and institutions, says Russia's Sergei Lavrov

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov used his start-of-year press conference in Moscow on Monday to accuse the United States of “devaluing” international law and institutions.

“They are afraid of honest competition,” he told his audience of journalists. “That is why they continue to work using the language of diktat and ultimatum. They do not recognise the reality of a multipolar world”.

The minister's annual press events, which follow on from the presidential set-piece in December, rarely reveal much in the way of policy. But they do give hints about the underlying transcript. Judging by today’s performance, it seems to be a case of continuing where we left off in 2017. In other words, awful, but more controlled relations with the US; a continued impasse in Ukraine; and growing confidence about Russia’s role as Middle Eastern kingmaker.

Many of the questions today were reserved for correspondents from loyal countries. After a softball thrown by state TV, the second question was offered to a Chinese correspondent. “It’s good that we turned to such an important partner so early,” Mr Lavrov said, shuffling his notes. Later came the turn of a Syrian journalist. Then an Iraqi. Two North Korean journalists, who attend briefings religiously, chose not to break their tradition of complete silence.

Apart from the occasional flash of temper - at one point Mr Lavrov asked a photographer to “calm down” and “stop jumping around like a rabbit” - the veteran minister offered a lesson in the Ted Heath school of diplomacy. That is to say: thinking twice, then using long-winded phrases to say nothing much at all.

There were, of course, nods to the pressing questions of the day. Russia was concerned about the North Korean impasse but will block moves that put too much pressure on Pyongyang. In particular, he railed against the Vancouver summit being held today, and without the participation of either Russia or China.

“They say that we were consulted; this is outright lies,” he said. “It is destructive, and I can only hope not completely so.”

Likewise, the minister pushed Russia's proposed Syrian roadmap, and its controversial "national unity" summit, due to be held in Sochi. Contrary to claims that this would become a talking shop for the Syrian regime, Russia was interested in bringing everyone to the table, he said. The United States, on the other hand did "not want to keep Syria as a state within its current borders”.

A great deal of the conference was devoted to Ukraine. This, Mr Lavrov argued, had become an “artificial barrier" to good relations between the West and Russia. Russia was committed to fulfilling its obligations under the Minsk peace accords. It was the Ukrainians who were pushing things back to war.

Somewhat flamboyantly, Mr Lavrov then argued that Russia had “always respected the territorial integrity of Ukraine” in its post-Crimean phase. Neither had Russia broken its promises under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, which provided security assurances to Ukraine in exchange for giving up its nuclear arsenal.

“We have never employed or threatened to employ nuclear weapons against Ukraine, so we have not broken any treaty,” he said.

Neither argument will play well in Kiev.

The one real announcement made during the course of the two-hour conference was that Moscow was now preparing to sue the US over the seizure of diplomatic compounds last summer.

“We can’t sit by when people attack us,” said the minister. “It isn’t about an eye for an eye, no, but no one should expect us to ignore aggression.”

With new sanctions expected to hit Kremlin-related businessmen in February, most analysts expect, if anything, a worsening of relations with the United States. Was it not now a case of buyer’s remorse, asked a correspondent from CNN - “Don't you wish it was Hillary Clinton sitting in Trump’s place?”

Mr Lavrov evaded an answer. “This isn’t what diplomacy is about,” he said.

It was his shortest response all day.