Meeting in Saudi Arabia is important to engage the global South

The meeting on the key principles based on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Peace Formula in Saudi Arabia is important because it is also attended by representatives of the global South, who are becoming increasingly skeptical of Russia's intentions and understand the aggressive nature of its war against Ukraine.

This was stated in an interview with Ukrinform by the US Permanent Representative to the OSCE, Michael Carpenter.

"We certainly support these efforts of Saudi Arabia and Ukraine to bring together representatives of different countries to discuss how Ukraine can win this war and how we can return to peace in this part of the world," he said.

According to Carpenter, there are many countries in the world that look at Russia's war against Ukraine "from different perspectives."

"I think that over time, more and more countries are realizing that this is an imperial war of aggression. And so it is important to engage different countries outside the region in this discussion. I think that is exactly what the Saudi side is doing by organizing this meeting," said the head of the US mission to the OSCE.

He pointed out that following Russia's unilateral withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, "many countries in the global South are becoming much more skeptical of Russia's intentions."

"They see that Russia is playing a very cynical game, making record profits as a result of the food price spike. I mean, wheat prices are up 17% since they (the Russians - ed.) pulled out of the deal. And Russia doesn't really provide any support to developing countries," Carpenter said.

He believes that "some of our partners in the global South understand what this war is about" and that it is "an unprovoked imperial war of aggression.And the longer this war goes on, the more countries begin to be "skeptical of Russia's claims and disinformation."As an example, the head of the U.S. mission to the OSCE cited the recent Russia-Africa summit, which was attended by "not many" African leaders, and "those who came were very outspoken in their criticism of Russia's actions.""That's why discussions like the one in Saudi Arabia are important. Because they involve not only representatives from the OSCE region, but also from the global South," Carpenter said.

The full interview with the US Permanent Representative to the OSCE will be available soon on Ukrinform's website.

Author - Serhii Kolomiets, 06/08/2023