Sergei Lavrov – praag.org

‘Russia inseperable part of European culture and politics’

Russia’s top diplomat said in an interview with Moscow State Institute of International Relations’ MGIMO Journal, that for at least the past 300 years Russia has been an inseparable part of European culture and politics.

“The periods of Russia’s most active participation in European affairs were marked by stability and peace on the continent,” Lavrov added.

He noted that only collective efforts can put up efficient counteraction to the challenges like terrorism, drug industry, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, illegal migration, climate change and many others. “To give up collaboration is not a good option for relations between Russia and the West — neither for ourselves nor for them.”

Russia has been ostracized by Western countries as a most active upholder of independent views, Lavrov said. “Over the past quarter of a century, we have been holding discussions with our North-Atlantic partners on how to build a strategic relationship and set up joint agencies tasked with facilitating this relationship,” Lavrov said. “We passed political declarations and called for forming a unified space in the world, for stability and security.”

“Still our Western partners were pressing forward with their own agenda, ignoring Russia’s interests in many ways, expanding NATO, and generally seeking to push the geopolitical territory under their control right up to Russia’s borders,” he said.

One may clearly get an impression that Russia got under a strike as a most active upholder of independent views in the modern world, as a force considering independent politics to be its natural right. “A line of this kind doesn’t match the claims for exceptionality made by whoever, no doubt,” Lavrov said.

“It’s equally clear, however, that there is no return to the previous model of actions towards Russia that was based on insincerity and filled with double standards,” he said. “It’s impossible to keep adjusting international law to someone’s petty one-sided plans and ruining the authority of the UN Security Council by unscrupulous interpretations of its resolutions.”

“Business should be conducted decently and with respect for international law, in the first place for the UN Charter with all of the norms and principles embedded in it,” Lavrov said.

Meanwhile the Speaker of the Russian State Duma Sergey Naryshkin declared at a meeting with Prime Minister of the Chinese State Council Li Keqiang that “Russia regards the developments in Hong Kong as China’s internal affair.”

Naryshkin said he did not agree with interference by any external forces.

Demonstrations involving thousands of students have been supported by Western interests. Hong Kong is a former British colony.

Obama lapses into Orwellian speech

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the US president’s speech at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday lapsed into an Orwellian fiction.

Lavrov reminded the US that terrorists can hardly be good and bad at the same time. America has insisted that Isil terrorists in Libya and Syria are “moderates” while arming them.

The foreign minister said president Barack Obama failed to deliver a peacemaking speech at the current session of the UN General Assembly.

Lavrov said he found Obama’s statements “bizarre”. Obama insisted several times the the world had become freer and safer despite the fact that the US has now bombed 7 countries in 6 years, thus advancing the scourge of terrorism.

“I didn’t understand whether he was serious or not and whether there was an Orwellian element in it. Because George Orwell invented the Ministry of Truth and it looks like this philosophy is still present.

“The U.S. President presented a US worldview as he stressed many a time the exceptionality of himself and of his country,” Lavrov said.

“That’s the worldview of a country that has spelt out its right to use force arbitrarily regardless of the UN Security Council’s resolutions or other international legal acts in its national defence doctrine.”

“As for the US President’s speech, we earned the second place among the threats to international peace and stability,” Lavrov said. “Number one is the Ebola virus, number two is the so-called Russian aggression in Europe and Isil and other terrorists who are now taking hold of the Middle East and primarily of the countries, which have evidenced US interventions, are ranked as number three.

“That’s why the speech of a peacemaker – the way it was conceived – failed to deliver if one compares it to real facts,” he said.

The events in Iraq are a result of the actions carried out by the US and the UK, and the situation has spiraled out of control.

“We’ve known that our English colleagues have a unique ability to twist everything. But I didn’t expect such cynicism, because the events that are taking place in Iraq are an illustration of a complete failure of the venture started by the US and the UK that allowed it to spiral out of control completely,” Lavrov said.

“We’re interested in settling conflicts in the world not by making unilateral accusations or shifting the blame, but through a fair, equal and respectful dialogue,” Lavrov said.

Regarding the sanctions, Lavrov lashed out that it was only the problem of the US which imposed them. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian conflict is a domestic problem that should be solved without US interference, he added.

“Ukrainians met in Minsk several times and signed two documents there. OSCE and Russian officials helped to foster this dialogue. It’s all written in the protocol and the memorandum and they must be implemented,” he said. “This is what the Ukrainians themselves have agreed to, and it would be incorrect to dictate any of the implementation parameters to them.”

He said he would meet with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry today to tell him that.

Lavrov: Syria and Iran are natural allies in fight against ISIS

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Iraq and Syria are natural allies in the fight against ISIS.

Lavrov spoke at the International Conference on Peace and Security in Iraq, in Paris on 15 September 2014.

The foreign minister warned that “aggressive actions by the terrorist organization” threaten the future of Iraq as well as neighboring Syria.

“The achievements of the “Islamic State” and many other terrorist groups in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere would have been impossible without financial and material support from outside, including supply of weapons and purchase of oil from fields controlled by terrorists. Shutting down all the channels of such support must become a matter of priority.”

Earlier, President Obama declared that he would bomb the forces of ISIS in Syria without Syrian participation, but Vladimir Putin has warned that any such unilateral action in Syria would be clearly seen as “an act of aggression”.

Meanwhile Syria has asked Washington to engage in military and intelligence collaboration to defeat their mutual enemy, inviting US congressmen and senators to visit Damascus to discuss joint action against the jihadis.

Lavrov urged countries in the counterterrorist coalition to “demonstrate genuine unity, not allowing disputes between them on other issues to hamper the efficiency of joint counter-terrorist efforts”.

“The extremists will try to make use of any differences in our positions to undermine the united front against them. A truly collective approach should be developed through putting our minds and potentials together. No one can pretend that he knows better than others what kind of strategy we’ll need to help the region. And of course, we must build our common action on a solid foundation of United Nations Charter and UN counter-terrorist instruments and mechanisms. We face the same enemies in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere, and there is no room for double standards,” Lavrov told the conference.

He said it made no sense to try and distinguish between “bad” and “good” terrorists and that such reckless policies had lead to terrible consequences in Libya and Mali.

Putin’s plan for de-escalation in Ukraine should be heeded

Very big doubts arise as to sincerity of Brussels and Washington with regard to the #Ukraine crisis, the minister has noted

The calls presented in the plan of peaceful settlement of the situation in Ukraine by Russian President Vladimir Putin should be heeded in Kiev, Luhansk and Donetsk.

Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov has stated this at a meeting with OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Chairman Ilkka Kanerva on Thursday.

“We do not give up. President Vladimir Putin personally makes great efforts in direct contacts with President Poroshenko to find such ways of cooperation that will allow immediately put an end to bloodshed, remove the threat for the civilian population, ensure solution to humanitarian problems, problems of reconstruction of the destroyed infrastructure, and, of course, ensure the beginning of the negotiating political process,” the Russian minister said.

After such contacts, the Russian president formulated the seven-point initiative that is aimed at helping Kiev’s authorities and the militia of the southeast agree on and take steps in coordination to deescalate the situation, Lavrov said.

“We hope the calls will be heeded first and foremost in Kiev, Luhansk and Donetsk,” the minister said. “We will be ready together with OSCE within the framework of the contact group to help the conflicting parties to move along the path of stabilization of the situation in practice.”

“Decisions of the Council of Europe, UN Security Council, and OSCEsce on Ukraine must be implemented undeviatingly; this applies to investigation of events at Maidan, in Odessa, and Boeing airliner crash,” the Russian foreign minister emphasized.

Very big doubts arise as to sincerity of Brussels and Washington with regard to the Ukraine crisis, the minister has noted.

Lavrov drew attention to the following fact: “There was no lack in peace initiatives. We were actively pushing forward approaches which are sealed in the Geneva Statement dated April 17. We fixed the Berlin Declaration and documents which presuppose an immediate cessation of fire and the start of a respectful inclusive dialogue on a constitutional reform with the participation of all regions. None of those that signed the documents together with us, I mean Ukraine, the United States, and the European Union, are interested, as it seemed to us, in implementing what we reached agreement about. This is very sad.”

“Since both OSCE and the United Nations under the pressure of Western countries refused even to acclaim the Geneva statement, when our Western partners in OSCE blocked the initiative of Didier Burkhalter, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, of course, all that actions, the West’s behavior raises very big doubts as to the sincerity of what is being done by Brussels and Washington,” Lavrov said.

In his turn, Kanerva noted that the crisis in Ukraine’s southeast was impossible to settle by military means, and a political decision should be found. “We have arrived today here not to urge you to do something and not to persuade you to act in a certain way. We do not intend to assume any arrogant or aggressive attitude,” Kanerva said.

“We all are very concerned by the deteriorating situation in eastern Ukraine and on the border between Ukraine and Russia,” he added. “We urge all parties of the conflict not to attempt any further provocations and show a constructive attitude towards what is now happening in Ukraine,” Kanerva stressed. “That is why we believe necessary to prevent the flow of weapons and servicemen, which are now crossing the border. We need to find a secure solution for this crisis, which today became a very acute problem.”

Sergei Lavrov believes OSCE should provide a basis for cooperation in Europe that makes impossible “provocations” like the one staged in Ukraine. “We are always open, all the more so the OSCE indeed plays an important role not only when the fire has already broken out,” the minister said.

“The events in Ukraine are now the main problem, since there is a civil war, and civilians are eliminated,” the minister went on saying. “The southeast is the most hot spot of the Ukrainian crisis, but we shall not forget about the other parts of the country.”

In this regard, Lavrov pointed to the problems experienced by the Hungarians, Romanians, Poles, and which are discussed in Europe “but not aloud”. “That is why we considered the national unity in Ukraine the most important matter of principle,” the Russian minister stressed. He recalled the agreement of February 21, signed by Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and other then-opposition leaders, who are currently members of the ruling coalition.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that the bet made by the United States and some Western powers on the so-called NATO’s victory in the ongoing Ukrainian conflict would ‘lead to nothing good.’

“I am sure that Russia just like many other European countries want the Ukrainian people to win in terms of its multiethnic diversity,” Lavrov said during his meeting with Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn.

“Some of our Western partners, unfortunately including most influential player the United States, want NATO to win and want the situation, when the United States dictates its own will for everyone else, to win as well.”

“Nothing good will come out of such concept of exclusiveness, which President (Barack) Obama repeatedly voiced and nothing good comes out of it currently,” the top Russian diplomat said.

The decision of the Council of Europe (CE), the UN Security Council and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) must be fully complied with, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.

He said at a meeting with CE Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland, “We are convinced that the Council of Europe can and should play an active and constructive role in this uneasy period.” “Ukraine is on everybody’s mind, and we are convinced that the decisions, taken by the Council of Europe, the UN Security Council and OSCE should be fully complied with, the same as the agreements made in Geneva, Berlin and other formats.”

“This is so, regarding the investigation of all the crimes, all incidents, be it the Maidan, Odessa events, or the Malaysian Boeing crash, this is also true about the need for an urgent agreement on the unconditional ceasefire and beginning of the inclusive political dialogue,” Lavrov said.

Lavrov: There will be no military interference in Ukraine

There will be no military interference to Ukraine, and Russia is for peaceful settlement. Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, has made this statement on Monday at an annual meeting with students and teachers of Moscow State University of Foreign Affairs.

“There will be no military interference. We are committed exclusively to the peaceful settlement of this deep crisis, this tragedy,” Lavrov stated.

He noted that the demand to the militia to lay down arms was unrealistic.

The minister said that Washington and Brussels should demand that Kiev quit using heavy weaponry against civilians.

“The most important is that Washington and Brussels demand from Kiev the same that they demand in all other conflicts: to stop using heavy weaponry and aviation against civil facilities and civilians,” the minister stressed.

The demand to the militia to lay down arms is unrealistic, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

“Let’s sit for talks, but not threaten with sanctions against Russia and insist on quite unrealistic demands for the militia to lay down their arms and allow to kill them,” the minister said.

“Unfortunately, our western partners are blinded with the situation and give their support to any statements and actions of the current Ukrainian authorities,” Lavrov said adding that this position was biased and non-critical.

Moscow hopes that Contact Group at session in Minsk will discuss cessation of fire, Lavrov added.

“I expect that the talks started earlier in the day will be dedicated to a task of fixing, immediately and without preconditions, terms for a ceasefire,” the minister said.

The foreign minister noted that it was possible and necessary to return to pragmatic cooperation in relations of Russia with the United States and the EU.

“We believe that in relations with the European Union and the United States it is possible and necessary to return to pragmatic cooperation based on equality of rights and mutual respect. But for this, it is necessary to give up the absolutely hopeless policy of ultimatums, threats and sanctions,” the minister said.

I believe the Ukraine crisis should show everyone the absolute harmfulness of a stance, which puts particular countries, especially those close to us, like Ukraine, before a choice: ‘either you go to us or you go to Russia and then we’ll build new dividing lines and walls between us,” Lavrov said.

This choice of either with us or against us, which Brussels sometimes demands from Ukraine and other countries of the post-Soviet space, “is prevocational,” the Russian foreign minister said. “I would say this is worse than a crime, this is a big mistake,” Lavrov said.

The Russian foreign minister said that “you can’t make a stake on a military force, especially in the 21st century.” “I hope that we’ll move away from a dangerous line as far as the Ukraine crisis is concerned,” Lavrov said.

“As far as the WTO is concerned (namely, Russia’s withdrawal in reply to possible new sanctions), we shall not withdraw. On the contrary, we want more actively to master the WTO instruments, including those concerning trade disputes,” Lavrov said. “We have already used those instruments in order to overcome, what we believe, the EU’s discriminatory policy with regard to anti-dumping procedures”.

Investigators must also be returned to the Boeing crash site in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

“No facts are given to us. They persuade us to believe their words,” he said.

“The European Council wrote in a document that it demanded immediate access to the site of the Malaysian Boeing crash. Where have they been until now. There was no threat from the militia,” Lavrov said.

“There was a demand of the UN Security Council to ensure ceasefire in the area of the crash. But Kiev stated the same day that they would stop firing after taking control of the area,” the minister said.

Prospects for abrogation of visa formalities between Russia and the European Union countries are not very reassuring, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov stated.

“The prospects are not very reassuring, frankly speaking,” the Minister pointed out. “A not very numerous but pushy group formed in the European Union. That group came out against abrogating visas. They made no bones of speaking about that”.

Source: Itar TASS

Ukraine tries to cover up bloodshed with videogame imagery

At least 2,593 people have been killed in eastern Ukraine since the start of the Kiev’s military operation against anti-government forces there started in mid-April, according to a new estimate by the Office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights.

The death toll includes civilians, members of the Ukrainian troops and also fighters in the anti-government forces.

“The trend is clear and alarming. There is a significant increase in the death toll in the east,” Ivan Simonovic, U.N. Assistant Secretary General for Human Rights, told journalists.

“The current number of killed is 2,593 – close to 3,000 if we include the 298 victims of the MH17 (Malaysian airliner) plane crash,” he said.

The report, issued on Friday, August 29, 2014, and covering the period July 16 to August 17, condemns the killing and wounding of civilians in urban areas, which have lately turned into battlefields.

Russia’s only reaction to NATO accusations of interfering militarily in Ukraine will be a consistent position of putting an end to bloodshed and establish dialogue between warring parties in Ukraine, Russia’s FM said.

No facts about Russian military being present on the territory of Ukraine have ever been presented, Sergey Lavrov pointed out, while speculation on the issue has been voiced repeatedly, he stressed.

“It’s not the first time we’ve heard wild guesses, though facts have never been presented so far,” Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow.

“There have been reports about satellite imagery exposing Russian troop movements. They turned out to be images from videogames. The latest accusations happen to be much the same quality,” he said.

“We’ll react by remaining persistent in our policies to stay bloodshed and give a start to the nationwide dialogue and negotiations about the future of Ukraine, with participation of all Ukrainian regions and political forces, something that was agreed upon in Geneva back in April and in Berlin [in August], yet what is being so deliberately evaded by our Western partners now,” Lavrov said.

Arabs will pay for full Syrian invasion

Kerry and Hagel, laughing — Kerry and Hagel, enjoying the moment

Secretary of State John Kerry said at Wednesday’s hearing that Arab counties have offered to pay for the entirety of unseating President Bashar al-Assad if the United States took the lead militarily.

“With respect to Arab countries offering to bear costs and to assess, the answer is profoundly yes,” Kerry said. “They have. That offer is on the table.”

Asked by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) about how much those countries would contribute, Kerry said they have offered to pay for all of a full invasion.

“In fact, some of them have said that if the United States is prepared to go do the whole thing the way we’ve done it previously in other places, they’ll carry that cost,” Kerry said. “That’s how dedicated they are at this. That’s not in the cards, and nobody’s talking about it, but they’re talking in serious ways about getting this done.

A possible US military operation in Syria would not result in a war with Russia, Kerry said at a meeting of the foreign affairs committee of the US House of Representatives.

“Foreign Minister [Sergei] Lavrov of Russia has made it clear – pretty much to paraphrase – Russia does not intend to fight a war over Syria,” Kerry said at the meeting on Wednesday when asked whether there was a potential danger of a military conflict with Russia.

“And I’ve had personal conversations with President [Vladimir] Putin and with the foreign minister that have indicated Syria doesn’t rise to that level of potential conflict. Their ships are kind of staying out of the way. They are not threatening that. And I don’t think that would be what would happen here,” he said.

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the assessment of Russia’s possible response would be presented to Congress at closed hearings. – Washington Post, RIA Novosti

Syrian rebels caught with sarin gas

Russia called on Turkey in June to share its findings in the case of Syrian rebels who were seized on the Turkish-Syrian border with a 2kg cylinder full of nerve gas sarin.

Russia’s top foreign official Sergei Lavrov said the Kremlin wanted to get clear on the issue of chemical weapons used in Syria, since the allegation had taken on the role of a trading card in the conflict, becoming a focus of constant provocations.

“I do not rule out that some force may want to use it [the rumour] to say that the “red line” has been crossed and a foreign intervention is needed,” the minister said.

“We are still waiting on a comprehensive report from our Turkish colleagues,” he added, citing the incident when a gang of terrorists carrying a canister with nerve gas sarin was arrested inside the Turkish territory about two weeks ago. – turkishweekly.net