OUR Russian Foreign Secretary Sergei Lavrov accused the West of “militarizing” Southeast Asia in an attempt to curb the interests of Russia and China, setting the stage for a showdown between Russia and Western leaders at the G20 summit in Bali.

Lavrov will lead a Russian delegation to the G20 summit – the first since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February – after the Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin was too busy to attend.

Speaking at a press conference following the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Phnom Penh, Lavrov chided the US for its actions in a region that Russia and the West see as a potential strategic geopolitical battleground in the coming decades. . . .

“The US and its NATO allies are trying to dominate this space,” Lavrov said.

^{According to REUTERS}