Western Countries Trying To Use COVID-19 Pandemic To Punish Unwanted Governments - Lavrov

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 28th May, 2020) The Western countries are trying to use the COVID-19 pandemic to punish the unwanted governments of some foreign nations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an article issued on Thursday in China's Global Times newspaper.

"Not everyone could resist the temptation to act on the principle of 'every man for himself.' There are those who are trying to take advantage of the current situation to play the 'Monopoly,' promoting self- interests and settling accounts with geopolitical competitors ... The virus is boosting the already formed negative trends and escalating the accumulated differences and disagreements, accelerating the unhealthy rivalry," Lavrov said.

The Russian minister stressed that only the politicization of humanitarian issues and the Western countries' wish to punish the unwanted governments of foreign states could explain their refusal to lift unilateral restrictions against some developing countries at least amid the pandemic.

"According to the UN estimations, such sanctions, which narrow the ability of ordinary citizens to exercise their social and economic rights, are seriously complicating the efforts, aimed at protecting public health, and hitting the most vulnerable groups of people," Lavrov noted.

He added that the pandemic had demonstrated the deficit of humanism in some Western countries.

The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic on March 11. To date, more than 5.6 million people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide, with over 353,000 fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University.