Russia refuses to sign a joint statement with the US at the ASEAN/EAS summit

November 13 () –

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced this Sunday that the Summit of East Asia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN/EAS) will end without a joint statement with the United States due to the “unacceptable language” raised about the Ukrainian war.

“The United States has insisted on absolutely unacceptable language regarding this situation,” Lavrov told the media during the meeting that is taking place in Cambodia and to which the US and Russia are invited as members of the regional forum of the cluster.

“For this reason, a collective decision is not going to be taken,” added the Russian Foreign Minister in comments collected by the TASS agency about a war that Russia officially describes as a “special operation” while Ukraine and its allies directly use the term “invasion”.

Lavrov has also denounced a “clear trend towards militarization” in Southeast Asia “through the coordination of the efforts of the US’s local allies such as Australia, New Zealand and Japan with the expansion of NATO.”