Alexander Rahr: ‘’While the West is struggling to create a monopolar world, there will be no fight against terror"

These days Moscow hosts the 6th Moscow Conference on International Security (MCIS-2017), in which the representatives of the top leadership of the Russian Federation's power bloc, Russian and foreign security experts are participating. On the sidelines of the main sessions, Vestnik Kavkaza talked with the famous German political scientist and expert on Russia, Alexander Rahr, about the possibilities of the cooperation between Russia and the West in the sphere of ensuring the world security.

- What are the chances that Russia and the West will be able to find a consensus on the issue of the Syrian settlement?

- I expected the second proposal of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the creation of an international coalition for fighting against ISIL (a terrorist group banned in Russia), which he did in 2015, that was actually a repetition of a proposal made to George Bush after September 11 attacks on the creation of a joint anti-terrorist coalition against al-Qaeda, would be heard. Unfortunately, this has not happened yet, since the geopolitical interests of the West prevail, namely, the desire to remove Bashar al-Assad, as they did with Gaddafi and others, and after that to create a democratic pro-Western or at least pro-Saudi state in the Middle East. Russia will not support this initiative, since it sees no logic in this.

- In that case, what kind of relationship do Russia and the West have now?

- The current situation is a struggle for a multipolar world. Russia supports those states that understand that the world has already become a multipolar place and it needs to get rid of chaos somehow, while Americans and Western Europeans still think that they are right and it is necessary to maintain a monopolar world that will be guided by the rules dictated by Washington, Brussels and Berlin. While there is misunderstanding and even mistrust in the relations, as long as the struggle for a monopolar world continues, until then the antiterrorist coalition, unfortunately, will not exist.

- What is the place of the Moscow conference on International Security in Russia's relations with the West?

- It plays an important role, because here, behind the scenes, certain decisions are made, there is a possibility of meetings at the highest level. In fact, due to this fact, people go to the same Munich conference - for the sake of meetings, but not speeches. Therefore, if the Moscow Conference continues its path and creates conditions for an interesting exchange of views, and the high-ranking representatives of Asia and the post-Soviet space and countries of Eurasia will attend it, everything will be fine. It is necessary to continue to invite the highest representatives of the West to participate in it, sooner or later they will come, because they must understand that decisions are made here.

- How have the Western geopolitical interests in the South Caucasus changed recently?

- There are many interesting things happening in this region. In fact, the European Union failed to create a solid base. Brussels was confident that it would be able to sign agreements on the association with Baku, Yerevan, and Tbilisi, but eventually only Georgia, more or less, continues its work with the European Union. Other countries refuse this, because they want to continue their work with the Eurasian Union, or even as Armenia, to be a member of the Eurasian Union, and at the same time to communicate with the EU somehow. This is a good example for Belarus and Ukraine - how to do everything possible to participate in the both unions, thus creating better conditions for their peoples.