MOSCOW – The Kremlin said today that the upcoming summit on democracy organised by United States President Joe Biden aims to “divide countries”, after Russia was not included on the guest list.
“The US prefers to create new dividing lines, to divide countries into those that – in their opinion – are good, and those that are bad,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“More and more countries prefer to decide themselves how to live, without looking back at anyone,” Peskov said.
He added that Washington is “trying to privatise the term ‘democracy’.”
“They can’t do so and should not do so,” he said.
Biden has invited around 110 countries to a virtual summit on democracy, including major Western allies but also Iraq, India, and Pakistan.
Washington’s main rivals China and Russia were not on the guest list published by the State Department yesterday.
The global conference was a campaign pledge by the US president, who has placed the struggle between democracies and “autocratic governments” at the heart of his foreign policy.
The “Summit for Democracy” will take place online on December 9 and 10 ahead of an in-person meeting at its second edition next year. – AFP, November 24, 2021
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