NYT Breaking news: Vladimir Putin has quietly signaled openness to cease-fire in Ukraine. The Russians don’t mind a truce. They know time is on their side. EU bears the brunt of the adventure against Ukraine economically, especially from the point of view of cheap energy. 紐約時報突發新聞: 普丁悄悄表示對烏克蘭停火持開放態度。 俄羅斯人不介意停戰。 他們知道時間站在他們這一邊。 歐盟在經濟上對烏克蘭的冒險首當其衝，特別是從廉價能源的角度來看.

Lavrov: I assume that you were discussing the multipolar world which is emerging after five hundred years of domination of what we call the “collective West”. Its domination was based on a diverse history including ruthless exploitation of peoples and territories of other countries. In any case, on the basis of this five hundred years, the United States and its allies built the model of globalization, which they believed would serve them well to continue to be number one in economy, in military exercises, in culture, politics, and so on and so forth. And they thought that they would be using this globalization scheme to continue their domination.

However, other countries, using exactly the principles and instruments of the western globalization, managed to beat the West on its own turf, building their economies on the basis of national sovereignty, on the basis of balance of interests with other countries. And as this process continued, the new centers of economic growth, of financial power, and of political influence started to emerge.

We see this process very much underway, which is clearly changing the balance of power in the world, and not to the West’s liking. And in order to suppress this kind of development, any dissent, our western colleagues decided to sacrifice all the principles of globalization, which they have been selling to everybody for decades and decades, including free market, fair competition, inviolability of property, presumption of innocence. All this was sacrificed for the sake of rules-based world order. The rules were never published, were never even announced by anyone to anyone, and they are being applied depending on what exactly the West needs at a particular moment of modern history.

This is especially seen in various conflicts which the West ignites all over the world. Everything goes to keep the hegemony. Intervention in domestic affairs, sanctions against all the principles of competition, regime change, and of course direct military interventions, like we have seen in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and elsewhere.

The analysis of all these events raises a question: is there a single place where the United States intervened with military force, where life has become better? I think you know the answer. Ruined statehood, human tragedies, and bleak prospects for the future of the countries where the Americans and NATO interfered.

Ukraine of course is another example. By the way, even allies of the United States are not spared when the Americans want to do something to keep the hegemonic position. They made sure that the European Union bears the brunt of the adventure against Ukraine economically, especially from the point of view of cheap energy. Former cheap Russian energy is being replaced by expensive American liquefied natural gas, and examples of deindustrialization of Germany and other European countries are plentiful. I would not dwell upon them.

My point is that we have to recognize the objective course of history, which is the evolution of a multipolar world. We have to accept the existence of new organizations, new formats, new structures like BRICS, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, ASEAN, African Union, and many subregional organizations in Africa, CELAC and subregional groups in Latin America. They are going to be the bricks of the new polycentric world. This must be recognized as an objective course of history and this must be respected. This is something which we actually miss when we analyse the modern West diplomacy. This is for the Western to draw conclusions.