Russian foreign minister accuses West of trying to ‘stop the march of history’ by providing military aid to Ukraine

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has used his speech at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to defend the war in Ukraine and warn the United States against interfering in Taiwan.

The speech, which was delivered in New York on Saturday, came days after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial military mobilisation in the wake of a series of setbacks on the battlefield.

Mr Lavrov said the US and its allies were trying to “stop the march of history” by providing military aid to Ukraine.

He also accused the West of “throwing a fit” over referendums that are currently underway on whether Russia-occupied regions of the country should join the Russian Federation.

US President Joe Biden and other Western leaders have dismissed the votes as a “sham” aimed at annexing Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

Throughout the week, representatives of several UN member countries, including Australia, have called on China to ramp up pressure on its strategic partner to end the conflict.

“It is especially important for countries that play leading roles in international fora, and countries with influence on Russia, to exert their influence to end this war,” Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong told the General Assembly on Friday.

“In this pursuit, the world looks to China, a great power, a permanent member of the Security Council, with a ‘no-limits partnership’ with Russia.”

During a lengthy press conference following his speech, Mr Lavrov pointedly avoided answering questions on whether Beijing had heeded the calls.

Mr Putin recently acknowledged his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, had expressed “questions and concerns” over the war.

Russia and China remain aligned but not united

At UNGA, Mr Lavrov used the world’s most famous diplomatic platform to accuse Washington of “playing with fire” by promising it would defend Taiwan against China.

“They’re playing with fire around Taiwan,” he said.

“On top of that, they’re promising military support to Taiwan.”

The warning followed several remarks from Mr Biden that contradicted Washington’s long-term strategic ambiguity around the island.

On Sunday, he told CBS’s 60 Minutes the US would deploy troops to the self-ruled democratic island in the event of an “unprecedented attack” by China.

The White House has since sought to distance itself from the comments, saying they do not reflect an official change in foreign policy.

China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, used his own speech to the General Assembly to underscore Beijing’s intentions to reunify with Taiwan.

He issued a stark warning to world leaders that any move to interfere would “be crushed by the wheels of history”.

“Only when China is completely reunified, can there be enduring peace across the Taiwan Strait,” he said.

Mr Wang did not signal a change in China’s neutral stance on the war in Ukraine but called on “all parties concerned to keep the crisis from spilling over”.

“China supports all efforts conducive to the peaceful resolution of the Ukraine crisis,” he said.

“The pressing priority is to facilitate talks for peace.

“The fundamental solution is to address the legitimate security concerns of all parties and build a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture.”

China has previously criticised Western sanctions against Russia.

Earlier in the week, Mr Wang told the UN Security Council that investigations into potential violations of international humanitarian law should not be “politicised” and be “based on fair facts, rather than an assumption of guilt”.