Asian, African and Latin American states have seen their roles in the global arena increase as Western military dominance has started to wane. That’s according to Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, who was speaking at the 21st International Security Conference in Moscow on Tuesday.
The minister argued that Russia’s military operation in Ukraine has “put an end to the dominance of the collective West in the military sphere,” and bolstered anti-colonial movements worldwide.
“Just as the defeat of fascism by the Red Army in Europe in the last century gave a powerful impetus to anti-colonial movements throughout the world, so will the defeat of the Ukrainian neo-fascists supported by the West serve as a factor in counteracting modern neo-colonialism,” Shoigu said.
Noting that Russia is currently fighting “not just the armed forces of Ukraine, but the entire collective West,” Shoigu acknowledged the addition of several states from the Asia-Pacific region to the ranks of the anti-Russia bloc.
Russia has, however, dispelled many myths about the superiority of Western military standards in its confrontations with Kiev’s forces, which have been provided with billions of dollars of foreign weaponry, Shoigu claimed. It has become clear that the use of Western weapons and supposedly advanced NATO tactics and training “cannot ensure superiority on the battlefield,” he added.
The minister also claimed that Kiev’s foreign advisers are essentially using the Ukraine conflict as a testing ground for various military strategies involving Western weapons, while President Vladimir Zelensky supplies the manpower for these experiments. Shoigu said the losses among Ukrainian military personnel are being disregarded by Ukraine’s Western backers.
The Russian minister also claimed that Ukraine’s military resources are almost completely exhausted, according to preliminary estimates. Russia’s Defense Ministry had previously reported that since launching their counteroffensive operation in early June, Ukraine’s forces had lost some 43,000 soldiers as well as nearly 5,000 pieces of heavy equipment, including dozens of Western tanks and combat vehicles.
Shoigu suggested that the US is using the Ukraine conflict to line the pockets of its defense industry by forcing its partners in Europe to procure new products to replace those they have sent to Kiev.
Credit: RT News