By Elena Teslova
MOSCOW (AA) - Russia on Thursday accused the US of misusing its chairmanship in Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and violating its rules.
In a statement on its website, the Russian Foreign Ministry's Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the US representatives included paragraphs with political assessments of the situation in Ukraine in the drafts of final statements of the transport (May 18-19) and trade (May 25-26) ministerial meetings without coordinating actions with other APEC participants.
"Washington has replaced APEC's collegial approach to achieving results (the basic principle of APEC's activities) with Americans' inherent reliance on administrative resources and pressure on international partners," she noted.
The official stressed that the US claimed that "Ukraine's paragraph" was protested only by China, Russia and Hong Kong, which additionally violates APEC anonymity rules, prohibiting public presentation of the views of delegations.
According to Zakharova, only seven of 21 APEC economies supported the US decision. Among those are Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Chinese Taipei and Japan.
"Such US behavior has an extremely negative impact on the effectiveness of APEC as an incubator of promising initiatives to promote economic integration and improve well-being in the Asia-Pacific region," she said.
The diplomat also called on the US to return to "responsible performance of the duties of the chairman."