Russia accuses US and its allies of opposing multipolar world in Asia-Pacific region

New Delhi: The US and its allies have severely eroded the global security architecture in a bid to maintain global dominance, Russian Defence Minister Gen Sergei Shoigu said on Friday amid Moscow’s increasingly frosty relations with Washington over the Ukraine conflict.

In his address at a conclave of defence ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Delhi, Shoigu also said that Western powers are actively opposing the formation of a multipolar world in the Asia-Pacific region.

“As has been noted, today’s meeting takes place against the background of a highly volatile international environment,” he said.

“Fundamental, dynamic, and irreversible changes are taking place as the new multipolar world takes shape. This is actively opposed by the collective West. In a bid to maintain global dominance, the US and its allies have severely eroded the global security architecture,” he alleged.

Russia and the US have been at loggerheads over the Ukraine conflict with both sides making allegations and counter-allegations against each other.

On the sidelines of the SCO defence ministers’ meeting, Shoigu also met his Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu.

“We have always stressed the importance of building equal and indivisible security, of preserving the central role of the UN, of upholding its charter and its purposes and principles aimed at maintaining peace and stability,” the Russian defence minister said.

“We believe it is important to strengthen the role of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation as one of the pillars of the new multipolar international system, a model of inter-state relations based on equality and mutual respect,” he said.

“It is necessary to maintain close coordination within the SCO and to hold regular consultations on common security issues, both in multilateral and bilateral ways,” he added.

India hosted the meeting in its capacity as chair of the grouping.

The SCO is an influential economic and security bloc and has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisations.

The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan became its permanent members in 2017.