Global relations suffer due to humanitarian initiatives ignored during pandemic — Lavrov

MOSCOW, October 5. /TASS/. Calls of the UN to suspend unilateral sanctions during the coronavirus pandemic and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s initiative to create green corridors for supply of pharmaceuticals and food products have not yet been heard by the global community, which poisons the atmosphere of international cooperation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday during his meeting with the members of the Association of European Businesses in Russia. "The appeals of the UN Secretary-General and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights have not been heard yet. This concerns the appeals to suspend unilateral illegitimate sanctions at least for the duration of the pandemic, first of all, as far as the supplies of pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and financial transactions necessary for this go. Also ignored is Vladimir Putin’s proposal made during the online meeting of the Group of 20 on creating green corridors which should be free of trade wars and of restrictions and be used to supply pharmaceuticals, food products, the corresponding equipment and technologies. Such attitude to unifying initiatives, of course, seriously poisons the atmosphere of transnational cooperation and aggravates the lack of mutual trust. Not only do ordinary people suffer from this, as this affects them the most, but also do business circles," the top diplomat said. The minister noted that the pandemic revealed the interdependence of states on the global level, impacting all countries. "It seemed to us that the conclusion was obvious: common tasks, common challenges should also aid in unifying the efforts on the basis of recognized norms of international law but, unfortunately, this hasn’t happened yet. Quite the opposite, a number of our foreign colleagues led by the US are trying to use the current coronavirus crisis for an even more insistent promotion of their mercenary interests, for open settling of scores with geopolitical rivals," he pointed out. According to the latest statistics, about 35 mln people have been infected worldwide and more than 1.03 mln deaths have been reported. To date, 1,215,001 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 979,143 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 21,358 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation. Read more