Russian officials will not take part in the upcoming Munich Security Conference. This was announced on February 9 by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova.
“According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Russian officials will not take part in the upcoming meeting of the Munich Conference on Security Policy on February 18–20 this year for various reasons,” she said during a briefing.
According to Zakharova, in recent years the Munich Conference has been increasingly transformed into a “transatlantic forum”, losing its objectivity and inclusiveness.
Earlier, on January 27, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Vladimir Putin would not participate in the Munich Security Conference.
The Munich Security Conference will be held in person on February 18–20. Back in October 2021, the head of the forum, Wolfgang Ischinger, expressed the hope that the new German government would present a foreign policy agenda there.
He also expected to see high-level participants from China and Russia at the conference. Ischinger noted that the forum in Munich will be a kind of warm-up for the March EU summit.
Last year, the Munich Security Conference demonstrated the persistence of anti-Russian rhetoric in the transatlantic environment, Sergei Zheleznyak, a member of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, assessed its results. According to the deputy, the conference outlined a trend for the near future in the policy of Western opponents – to restrain the development of Russia and its partners and prevent the strengthening of the multipolar world.
Then American President Joe Biden, speaking at the Munich Conference, said that Russia intends to undermine transatlantic cooperation between the United States and European countries. He urged the European partners of the United States to maintain unity in the EU and within NATO in light of the “threat from Russia.”
The Russian leader was remembered at the Munich Conference in 2007 for his harsh criticism of US foreign policy and their idea of a unipolar world order. Putin then spoke out against plans to expand NATO and deploy US missile defense facilities in Eastern Europe.
Source: IZ
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
