Lavrov: Some states try to dodge ban on use of force guided by momentary interests

Now and then some states, guided by their momentary interests, are trying to find exceptions to the general principle of the ban on the use of force, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with the Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily that will be issued on Thursday. “Seventy years ago the use of force in international relations was a routine practice: states just tried to find a plausible reason to justify their actions,” the Russian foreign minister said. “After WWII, the situation changed - now force can be used legitimately only in the case of exercising the right to self-defence or upon the decision of the UN Security Council,” Lavrov said. “The very fact that as a rule the countries don’t resort to the use of force as one of the means to achieve their foreign policy interests is the achievement of present-day international law, whose principles are reflected in the UN Charter,” he said. “However, we have to admit that now and then some states are trying, guided by their momentary interests, to find exceptions to the general principle of the ban on the use of force,” he noted. “And recently we heard alarming statements as to permissibility to use military force to promote own interests in this or that region,” he added. “It is evident to us that the more a state undermines by word or deed the principle of renunciation of the use or threat of force, the less it can expect others to comply with it. This is a dangerous road leading to the destruction of the foundation of the present-day international architecture,” the top Russian diplomat said. “As no state, even the strongest one, can develop normally in the situation of chaos, that inevitably emerges as a result of unrestricted use of force,” he summed up.