MOSCOW, August 20. /TASS/. Western sanctions against Russia helped the country strengthen ties with its allies and led pragmatic forces to unite globally, a senior diplomat said.
"Paradoxical as it may sound, the special military operation and everything that followed from our ill-wishers, from the collective West, became, to a certain extent, a trigger for strengthening ties between different parts of the world, between the Global South and East, between Russia and such a large, powerful group of countries that are ready and willing to develop relations with our country," Russian Foreign Ministry’s Economic Cooperation Department Director Dmitry Birichevsky said at the New Era - New Paths forum.
"And what did the West's reaction to the special military operation show? We believed that our trust in our partners, primarily in Europe and the United States, and in others who joined in the sanctions pressure on our country, was already quite deep and strong, and that a certain level of trust had been established. But suddenly, in an instant, it was destroyed. At the same time, enormous pressure began to be exerted on countries in the Global South and East because it is supposedly impossible to cooperate with Russia. The message was clear: 'You must not, and if you do, you will be punished one way or another’," the diplomat pointed out.
