Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at the opening ceremony for the exhibition To the Shores of Latin America, Moscow, March 11, 2019
11 March 2019 - 18:07
Mr Duda, ladies and gentlemen, your excellencies, friends,
I am pleased to have this opportunity to speak at the opening ceremony for the exhibition of rare books and manuscripts from the Russian State Library, an exhibition that reiterates the strength of the ties that connect our country with Latin America.
To begin with, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Mr Duda, Director General of the Library, for supporting the Foreign Ministry’s initiative to make today's event possible. This exposition is truly unique.
The foundation for Russia-Latin America cooperation, which today continues to expand and deepen, was laid more than two centuries ago, and the exhibition is evidence of that. Geographical distance has never been a problem for building up multifaceted human ties. Russia has always respected the sovereignty and independence of Latin American countries. Back in the late 19th - early 20th centuries, we, I mean the Russian Empire, established and maintained diplomatic relations with all the states in that region. Importantly, in 1907, Russia was the first to invite Latin Americans to the Peace Conference in The Hague for participation in the discussion of the then pressing issues on the international agenda.
Of course, many Russian travellers and diplomats noted the cultural and spiritual affinity of our peoples. Here are some examples: Ambassador Alexander Ionin, who became head of our diplomatic mission in Brazil in 1883, wrote the renowned three volumes of notes, Across South America.
Russian seafarers, researchers and writers were drawn to Latin America not by expansionist or colonial plans, but by love for research and exploration, and a genuine interest in the culture and traditions of this unique region, its people, and the desire to find ways for developing mutually beneficial trade. People of amazing destinies, they were inspired by the desire to see, understand and explore this unique and remarkable region.
In the 19th century, a Russian explorer, Pyotr Chikhachev, crossed Mexico on horseback, travelled from Acapulco to Guayaquil by sea and was the first Russian to cross the Andes. Years later, his compatriot wrote that in Mexico he had heard "about a guards officer, Chikhachev, who had a cheerful personality, spoke Spanish, and was popular with the ladies." In the early 20th century, translator and publicist Lydia Lasheyeva travelled all over South America on a bike. Our kind of woman!
Expeditions by Soviet geneticist Nikolay Vavilov made it possible to determine the centres of origin of cultivated plants in the New World and to create the world's first seed bank.
Outstanding Russian poets and artists, Konstantin Balmont, Vladimir Mayakovsky and Vasily Vereshchagin described the beauty of Latin America in their works. In his book, In the Land of Love and Earthquakes, published in 1915, writer Vladimir Krymov wrote that “it is always sunny and warm, and there is great passion and love” in the Caribbean countries. Today, as the carnival in Rio de Janeiro is drawing to a close, I believe this is an apt observation.
In the 19th and the 20th centuries, during the first and second waves of Russian emigration, specialists in various fields from science and industry to agriculture and military science came to Latin America. They have all contributed to the comprehensive development of the Latin American states and, in the case of Paraguay, played a crucial role in the political life of that country. I have been to Asuncion and I’m aware that 17 streets there are named after Russians dating back to the bloody Chaco War, the outcome of which, as the Paraguayans themselves emphasise, was largely determined by the military talent of Russian General Ivan Belyaev.
Today, there are communities of our compatriots in many countries of the region. They preserve the Russian language and culture and serve as an important link in strengthening the dialogue between what we now call civil societies.
I’m convinced that relying on rich traditions that took shape over the centuries and cultural cooperation between Russia and Latin American countries, we will be able to continue to promote our relations. Events such as today's exhibition make a major contribution to the overall efforts to build confidence and mutual understanding.
Once again, I would like to express my gratitude to all those who made this exhibition possible. I hope you will have the opportunity today to get familiarised with unique books and manuscripts.
The source of information -
http://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/...ent/id/3565410
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks at talks with Austrian Federal Minister for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs Karin Kneissl, Moscow, March 12, 2019
12 March 2019 - 12:31
Ms Minister, colleagues,
We are delighted to welcome you to Moscow.
Our meeting today is evidence of an intense political dialogue, including at the top level. Last year, President of Russia Vladimir Putin held several meetings with Federal President of the Republic of Austria Alexander Van der Bellen and Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. Our ministers also meet very often, just as members of our parliaments, business community and civil societies.
Apart from discussing bilateral topics as well as regional and international matters today, we will sign a statement on the establishment of the Sochi Dialogue Public Forum. It was an Austrian initiative, which we wholeheartedly support.
We have a busy agenda. I look forward to our fruitful talks.
The source of information -
http://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/...ent/id/3565835
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to media questions at a joint news conference following talks with Austrian Federal Minister for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs Karin Kneissl, Moscow, March 12, 2019
12 March 2019 - 14:48
Ladies and gentlemen,
We had very good, detailed and intensive discussions on a wide range of issues of mutual interest.
Relations between Russia and Austria are consistently developing in many spheres, despite the complicated situation in Europe. Of great importance for our common efforts is a regular and intensive dialogue at the top level. We exchanged positive views on exchanges between our parliaments, departments and regions and spoke out in favour of deepening our cooperation based on the tried and tested, as well as new forms of interaction.
We focused on our trade, economic and investment ties. Austria has been a major economic partner of Russia. We expressed appreciation at the stable growth of mutual trade, which increased by 42.7 percent to nearly $6 billion last year. Despite the adverse circumstances, including sanctions, Austrian entrepreneurs have not withdrawn from the Russian market. Mutual investments continue to grow.
We pointed out the positive and effective role of the Joint Russian-Austrian Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation, which has resumed its full-scale meetings, as well as the productive and concerned activities of the Russian-Austrian Business Council.
We also discussed the implementation of our largest joint projects, including the extension of the broad-gauge railway line from the city of Kosice in Slovakia to Vienna. We highly praised our cooperation in the field of energy, where Gazprom and OMV have been working together to implement a number of infrastructure projects.
Humanitarian exchanges are making rapid headway. The Cross Year of Music and Cultural Routes was a success in 2018. The bilateral Commission of Historians is productively working on historical and commemorative projects. We discussed the programme of the 2019 Russia-Austria Year of Youth Exchanges during which numerous concerts, exhibitions and artistic festivals will be held. We agreed to coordinate reciprocal issuance of free visas on the easiest terms for participants and organisers of events in the Year of Youth Exchanges.
The joint statement on establishing the Sochi Dialogue Russia-Austria Public Forum that we signed today testifies to our shared interest in expanding contacts between our scientific and business circles and civil societies. Let me recall that the decision to establish this venue was made by the presidents of Russia and Austria during President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Vienna in June 2018. The forum is co-chaired by Russian Presidential Aide Andrei Fursenko and President of the Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry Christoph Leitl. Its Coordinating Committee will include public figures of both countries. The first session is expected to be held this year. We agreed to facilitate its productive work.
During our exchange on key international issues, we focused on the situation on our common continent. We reviewed the prospects of Russia-EU relations. Both sides are interested in putting them back on a normal trajectory. We expressed concern over the current crisis in the Council of Europe, which is linked with the decision to deprive the Russian delegation of what are its lawful rights in PACE under the Council of Europe Charter.
We spoke about settlement efforts in eastern Ukraine. We favour full and consistent implementation of the Minsk Package of Measures. For our part, we emphasised that the actions of the Ukrainian authorities are leading to the disruption of this important document that was approved by the UN Security Council.
We spoke at length about the situation in the Middle East and North Africa, including the Syrian settlement process. We want to see it move forward on the basis of UN Security Council Resolution 2254. For our part, we described what Russia is doing in this respect, primarily in the Astana format. We agreed on the need to render aid to the Syrian people and rebuild the destroyed infrastructure to enable Syrians to return home. Another humanitarian task, mine clearing, will certainly play a major role here. Russia is actively supporting this Austrian initiative.
We also reviewed the problems that are emerging in the sphere of strategic stability now that the US has taken the course of withdrawing from vital agreements in this critical area. We hope that the discussions that continue in the OSCE and in the context of our relations with Western partners will prevent the collapse of the mechanism of strategic stability that has ensured security in Europe for many decades.
In general, we are satisfied with the results of the talks and will continue our close contacts.
Question:
Just recently, President Trump asked Congress to allocate half a billion dollars for Europe to counter Russia's malign influence in that region. Do you think Europe alone will cope with what they call your “influence?” Doesn’t what the Americans are doing represent outside interference in and of itself?
Sergey Lavrov:
What we see in the US administration’s budget request for the next year is, of course, not diplomacy, but, rather, modern American diplomacy, which boils down either to threats or sanctions, or, as we are seeing, to an attempt to purchase allies. It’s up to US legislators and taxpayers to decide whether it is in their interest. Of course, it is also up to the countries that are the recipients of this generous aid designed to fight “Russia's malign influence” – clearly, in order to exert their “well-intentioned” influence instead of our “malign” influence.
By the way, I am not sure whether the recipient countries will like the fact that someone wants to buy them. However, knowing the manners that now prevail in Washington, I cannot rule out that if they refuse to accept this aid that is imposed on them, they will see sanctions imposed on them, so they need to make up their mind.
Question:
Last year, certain tensions and misunderstandings arose between Russia and Austria following a spy scandal. Then, both sides said that it significantly undermined their relations. Do you think these negative factors are out of the picture now?
Sergey Lavrov:
I already spoke on this subject back when our Austrian colleagues suddenly decided to publicly accuse Russia of something instead of making the appropriate inquiry, if they had such concerns, via channels that exist specifically for these purposes. I remain convinced that every profession has its own genre, and there is no need to mix them up. This has never led to anything good either in art or in life.
Question (for both ministers):
The other day, US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry confirmed to journalists that Washington is considering the possibility of imposing sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 project and all companies associated with it, including the Austrian one. What will the Austrian government do if the United States really goes that far in unfair competition and imposes more expensive gas supplies on Europe? How will Russia respond?
Sergey Lavrov (speaking after Karin Kneissl):
I will pick up where Ms Kneissl left off, namely, international law. This contradicts all tenets and norms of international law. It is not for nothing that our American and some other Western colleagues no longer use the phrase “international law,” but urge everyone to respect the rules-based order.
Under international law, there must be elementary competition of economic approaches and proposals. This, by the way, is consistent with WTO rules. The rules invented by a small group of countries which they are trying to impose on everyone else solely in their own interest fit into the logic currently promoted by the United States. Calling the Nord Stream 2 project purely political, Washington issued a demand to abandon it and to buy American gas instead which is 20% to 30% more expensive. So, it will be not a political but an economic project. Indeed, it will be purely commercial for the United States, which will be receiving additional revenue. For those whom they are trying to force to abandon Nord Stream 2 and to switch to more expensive American gas, this decision will be political, even though they will come under pressure in the form of all kinds of illegitimate unilateral economic sanctions. I have already mentioned that Washington’s diplomacy comes down to sanctions. This applies to Nord Stream 2 and a number of other areas.
Recently, US Secretary of State Pompeo accused Rosneft of violating US sanctions against the Venezuelan oil company and demanded an end to the purchase of oil from PDVSA. How can this be explained?
By the way, a bad example is contagious. Juan Guaido, whom US Vice President Mike Pence proclaimed interim President of Venezuela, has already announced that his country should stop selling oil to Cuba. How does this fit with international law? It doesn’t.
Competition must be fair. We are witnessing the gross violation of all ethical and legal norms, when the United States demands, in fact, that all countries in the world not buy raw materials and energy resources from Russia, but instead buy them from the United States, not buy Russian-made products as part of their defence industry cooperation, but buy more expensive US-made products. Unfair competition in sports has already become proverbial.
Dictating everything to everyone will not bring any good. We have already warned our American colleagues that, perhaps, in a very short historical period (18 to 36 months), they may receive some kind of benefits, but in the strategic, long-term perspective, they are undermining trust in the dollar-based international system. This will not end well for them.
Question:
Is there still a chance to overcome the systemic crisis in the Council of Europe?
Sergey Lavrov:
We remain willing to constructively search for ways to overcome this crisis through a return to the basics, namely, all the provisions of the Statute of the Council of Europe without exception. The Statute implies equality of all CE members in all bodies of this pan-European organisation. Of course, the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe contradicts this principle which is enshrined in the Statute of the organisation.
We appreciate the commitment of a number of European countries, including Austria, as well as Finland, which currently chairs the Council of Europe, with the significant support of the majority of the CE members, to find a solution based on reaffirming the basic principle of the Statute and adopting a corresponding resolution stating that the Statute remains inviolable.
I heard that the minority, which is now trying to block such an outcome and demanding that Russia continue to be punished, is trying to get away with handouts in the form of allowing us to vote as an exception to the rule without returning full rights under the Charter of the Council of Europe to our parliamentarians. I heard that this Russophobic minority is trying to convince everyone that Russia has already given up on the Council of Europe and firmly decided to leave it. This is not true. This is a provocation. We have seen similar provocations in a number of other instances. We know that our British colleagues, our Ukrainian neighbours, and another three or four countries that traditionally follow the Russophobic policy of Washington are behind this. Once again, I can say with authority that the things that they are spreading in European capitals are not true. Russia did not make a decision to withdraw from the Council of Europe. Russia is doing everything to find a way out of the current artificially engineered crisis on the firm basis of the CE Statute.
Question:
Returning to the Sochi Dialogue, could you clarify why Sochi? Are all civil society groups invited to participate? Will there be more such dialogue formats, which, in general, should improve relations between Russia and the EU?
Sergey Lavrov (speaking after Karin Kneissl):
I believe the point of the question was somewhat different. I think the lady wanted to find out whether the journalists would participate in the Sochi Dialogue as well, and you (addressing Karin Kneissl) did not list them. But I think we can issue a personal invitation to the AP-PA representative.
The source of information -
http://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/...ent/id/3566453
Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s meeting with the EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos
14 March 2019 - 13:53
On March 14, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with the EU Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos on the sidelines of the 62nd session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs.
During the conversation, the officials discussed topical matters of cooperation between Russia and the European Union in the area of freedom, security, justice and the fight against drug trafficking. The Russian Foreign Minister noted that the resumption of full-fledged cooperation in the law enforcement sphere could make a significant contribution to improving relations between Moscow and the EU.
Mr Lavrov pointed out that the EU’s continued visa discrimination against the citizens of Crimea and Sevastopol was unacceptable and noted that it was important to create favourable conditions for the safe return of Syrian refugees to their home country.
The source of information -
http://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/...ent/id/3570128
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s address at the Ministerial Segment of the 62nd session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, Vienna, March 14, 2019
14 March 2019 - 14:25
Mr President, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
Today we will take stock of the efforts taken over the decade to counter the world drug problem. It is possible to make different assessments of the efforts to implement the Political Declaration and the Plan of Action, which were approved by the UN General Assembly in 2009. However, it is obvious that the task of ridding humanity of drug dependence set in these documents remains fully topical. Drug business continues to feed organised crime and corruption and provokes violence. New psychoactive substances are being produced. New high-tech threats like DarkNet and electronic payment instruments, so-called contactless drug trafficking, evoke serious concern.
Nobody can cope single-handedly with the multiplying challenges. The entire international community should make collective steps to move consistently towards reaching a strategic goal – the shaping of the drug-free world. This goal is sealed in the final document of the UN General Assembly 30th Special Session, which declared that “the world drug problem remains a common and shared responsibility…”
Regrettably, attempts are being made to erode this responsibility or distort its essence. The legalisation of cannabis in a number of countries, ostensibly for “recreational” or “medical” purposes evokes serious concern. This road leads straight to drug hell. Attempts to justify the use of drugs by human rights arguments do not stand up to criticism. It is necessary to strictly abide by the three relevant UN conventions that are the cornerstone of the entire anti-drug system and must remain unshakeable.
The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), which last year marked its 50th anniversary, is responsible for the implementation of these conventions. The decades-long operations of the INCB have earned great appreciation from the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND). We hope the Russian initiative, which we have submitted to this meeting of the commission, will be approved. In late 2017, we held a meaningful dialogue on all aspects of the drug situation in Russia with the INCB senior officials who visited Russia. We will continue to constructively cooperate with the INCB, and we will strictly comply with all our international legal obligations in the field of drug enforcement.
We firmly believe that only the states that faithfully comply with the provisions of the UN anti-drug conventions have a moral right to take part in the work of the CND. Any other approach can undermine the prestige of the commission, which is the main policy-making agency in the UN drug control system.
The fight against the drug threat is a vital element of global security, including in the regional dimension. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation is contributing to these efforts. At its summit in Qingdao last year, the member states approved the Anti-Drug Strategy and the Action Plan for its implementation. Their priorities include breaking the link between terrorism and drug trafficking and thereby weakening the financial basis of terrorism.
Russia is implementing a number of anti-drug training programmes. We are working together with Japan and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime to train drug enforcement personnel for Afghanistan, Central Asian countries and Pakistan. We are also establishing an anti-drug police dog training centre in Kabul.
We reaffirm our commitment to the Paris Pact Initiative, a major framework for combatting illicit traffic in opiates originating in Afghanistan.
It is clear that international efforts should be combined with national measures. Russia has started drafting its strategy of state anti-drug policy up to 2030 to elaborate effective responses to new challenges in this area.
While continuing uncompromising efforts against drug crime, it is necessary to make controlled substances used to relieve pain and suffering more accessible. On March 6, 2019, President of Russia Vladimir Putin signed a federal law on palliative care, which has become a contribution to implementing the UN Sustainable Development Goals in Russia.
The fight against drugs should become part and parcel of the activities of all UN agencies that are dealing with ensuring the rights of the child. I would like to draw your attention to the scientific research that confirms the hereditary nature of drug-related diseases. Last year the commission adopted a Russia-initiated resolution on protecting children against narcotic drugs. We urge you to continue working to this end.
Civil society has a major role to play in countering the drug threat. We are delighted to welcome representatives of non-profit organisations to Vienna. In December 2017, Moscow hosted a representative international conference “Parliamentarians Against Drugs.” Its participants supported the consolidation of MPs’ lawmaking efforts to enhance counteraction against this evil. Russian MPs plan to continue anti-drug cooperation with their foreign partners.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Drug addiction is one of the worst forms of suppressing a person’s personality. The eradication of this “plague” will make our world more just, humane and free. Russia will continue actively contributing to resolving this large-scale task.
I am confident that in our joint work we will continue to rely on the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, which is demonstrating its great competence and efficiency.
The source of information -
http://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/...ent/id/3570221
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at a joint SCO-UNODC meeting on drug trafficking, Vienna, March 14, 2019
14 March 2019 - 16:19
Mr Secretary-General,
Mr Under-Secretary-General,
Colleagues, friends,
First of all, I would like to express my gratitude for inviting me to this meeting and, in general, for making it happen.
We note with satisfaction that the dialogue between the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is sustainable. A joint group of experts started working as part of the Paris Pact initiative in the interest of more effectively combatting Afghan drug trafficking at the SCO site in Beijing in November 2018. We consider this the first important practical step and support expanding the areas of cooperation.
The Organisation’s Anti-Drug Strategy and Action Programme were adopted at the SCO summit in Qingdao in June 2018, giving the SCO a reliable international legal toolkit to counter the drug challenge, primarily in light of the continuing plight in Afghanistan. At the SCO summit, President Putin stressed that "it is important to jointly combat the terrorist threat coming from Afghanistan and to stop the production and transit of drugs." Russia is convinced that the destruction of the Afghan narco-terrorist alliance and its foreign accomplices will help strengthen security and stability throughout Eurasia.
I would also like to note that we consider the drug and terrorist threats as inseparable in accordance with the basic documents of the international community. In this regard, I would like to draw attention once again to President Putin’s initiative to expand the powers and scope of the SCO Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure and ultimately turn it into a comprehensive mechanism for countering new challenges and threats. As a first step, we proposed creating a working group within this regional antiterrorist entity to curb the fueling of terrorism through drug-related crime.
Today, at a meeting of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, many have already mentioned that the attempts of a number of states to rewrite the provisions of international anti-drug law and thus “open the floodgates” for legalising narcotic substances are alarming. We will strongly and consistently oppose such "experiments." We will continue to defend the inviolability of the three fundamental UN anti-drug conventions. Russia is submitting to the 62nd session of the CND a draft resolution in support of the activities of the International Narcotics Control Board which, I hope, will receive broad support from our partners, including in the SCO.
During the current session of the Commission, a special joint statement of the SCO member states will be circulated which will outline a collective position in favour of an uncompromising fight against the global drug challenge.
In the context of the emerging new narcotic threats, there is a demand for qualitatively improving international mechanisms, enhancing their efficiency, and bolstering their personnel, including at the national level. Russia is actively working in this area as it carries out jointly with Japan, under the auspices of the UNODC, a project to train highly qualified personnel for our partners from Central Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan at the educational institutions of the Interior Ministry of Russia. This is a real contribution to the strengthening of the anti-drug interaction within the SCO space.
I’m positive that deeper cooperation between the SCO and the UNODC will make a useful contribution to achieving our common strategic goal which is building a drug-free world. Overcoming this scourge is fully consistent with the values of the UN and the Shanghai spirit of cooperation.
In closing, I would like to once again emphasise our support for the UNODC headed by UN Under-Secretary-General Yury Fedotov and to express gratitude to the SCO Secretary-General Vladimir Norov for the continued and close attention which he, as the head of the Organisation, pays to anti-drug and anti-terrorism tasks.
The source of information -
http://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/...ent/id/3570498
Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s telephone conversation with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
15 March 2019 - 18:58
On March 15, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke over the telephone with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The officials exchanged views on major international issues.
Mr Lavrov expressed condolences to Mr Guterres over the death of UN employees in the air crash in Ethiopia on March 10 of this year.
The source of information -
http://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/...ent/id/3573366
The following events are not displayed in the English version.
11 March 2019
On postponing S. Lavrov's visit to Turkey -
http://www.mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/...ent/id/3564098
12 March 2019
Joint statement [Lavrov and Kneissl] on the creation of the Russian-Austrian Public Forum "Sochi Dialogue" -
http://www.mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/...ent/id/3566025
14 March 2019
Meeting of S. Lavrov with the Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization Lee Yong -
http://www.mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/...ent/id/3570058
Meeting of S. Lavrov with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, H. Arreasa, on the sidelines of the 62nd session of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs -
http://www.mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/...ent/id/3570269
Meeting of S. Lavrov with Austrian Federal President A. van der Bellen -
http://www.mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/...ent/id/3570592
15 March 2019
Meeting of S. Lavrov with the heads of diplomatic missions of Latin American and Caribbean states accredited in Moscow -
http://www.mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/...ent/id/3573260
16 March 2019
On the exchange of congratulatory telegrams between the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Russia and the Republic of the Congo -
http://www.mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/...ent/id/3574824