29 December 201615:21
2457-29-12-2016
Question: Moscow said that it maintains contacts with
Donald Trump’s staff “at an adequate level”. Do these contacts continue, in
what format and what subjects are discussed? Do you think Trump changed his
rhetoric after the election? Have you started preparations for his meeting with
Vladimir Putin? Is it possible that Trump will visit Moscow and when?
Sergey Lavrov: As President Vladimir Putin emphasised more than
once, we are ready to work with the future US President and his team in order
to overcome the crisis that developed in bilateral relations through no fault
of ours. Naturally, we welcomed Trump’s intention to build normal cooperation
with Russia, which he declared during his election campaign. During their
telephone conversation on November 14, both leaders underscored the need to
improve Russian-US ties, which are in very bad shape.
As for contacts, the
Russian President made public our position on this score. We are open to
contacts at any time in various formats but we are not pushing it because we
understand that now President Trump is very busy staffing his administration.
Obviously, this is his priority for the time being.
The same applies to
organising a top-level meeting. It is worth waiting for the new President to
take office on January 20, 2017, when channels of dialogue with the Republican
administration will be fully open.
Question: Will Russia be able to return to full-scale work
in the G8 if its relations with the United States improve under the new
administration? Or do we no longer consider this format a priority?
Sergey Lavrov: Your question is not quite accurate. It was not
Russia but our colleagues that walked out from the G8. But this is just a
remark. Seriously speaking, at one time the G8 was a useful forum for dialogue,
but times are changing
Today we do not consider
it necessary to work in this format. We believe it has largely exhausted itself
and lost its international weight. In fact, the G7 is a kind of get-together
that is lagging behind the rapidly changing world. First and foremost, I am
referring to the emergence and consolidation of new influential power centres
without which topical global and regional issues simply cannot be resolved.
Moreover, many members of
this informal club are suffering from the anti-Russian syndrome and continue
taking openly unfriendly steps. Members of the G7 are blocking in unison any
projects on Russian territory in some international financial institutions, for
instance, the World Bank.
We think it is much more
useful to promote dialogue with leading Western and other states at other, much
more efficient venues. Many key problems are discussed by the G20. This is a
much more representative format that unites advanced countries and states with
emerging markets. The recent G20 summit chaired by China in
Hangzhou confirmed the efficiency and relevance of this cooperation
mechanism.
We are attaching special
importance to deepening our cooperation in the SCO and BRICS. We are convinced
that our joint efforts in these associations with reliance on international law
and the UN Charter not only meet the vital interests of our nations but also
strongly promote the consolidation of positive, unifying principles in world
and regional affairs.
Question: Do you think the United States will agree to
carry out joint operations with Russia against al-Nusra in Syria? Is Moscow ready
for this?
Sergey Lavrov: From the very start of the operation by our
Aerospace Forces in Syria, we suggested that Washington establish very close
contacts between our defence agencies.
Despite President Barack
Obama’s public statements about the need to coordinate all efforts in the fight
against terrorism, the United States had a sluggish response to our proposals
on cooperation and only agreed to sign a memo on preventing incidents in the
air. Washington also avoided exchanging intelligence information on the
coordinates of ISIS facilities in Syria although at the same time it claimed
that we were hitting the wrong targets.
Several joint mechanisms
on cooperation in Syria were just barely launched. For example, from March to
July of this year the military of both countries conducted daily video
conferences. The Russian-US Rapid Response Centre operated in Geneva from May
to August. True, our partners were “embarrassed” to admit in public to engaging
in direct military cooperation, making references to legislative bans or openly
speaking about the vestiges of the Cold War mentality in the minds of many
members of the US administration.
After the air force of
the US-led anti-ISIS coalition dealt “by mistake” a strike at Deir el-Zour in
the north of Syria, killing 62 Syrian servicemen, the implementation of the
Russian-US agreement on establishing a Joint Executive Group was wrecked. The
group was supposed to coordinate the actions of the Russian Aerospace Forces
and the coalition against the positions of terrorists in Syria.
We noted that in an
interview with the Boston Globe, US Secretary of State John Kerry frankly
admitted that responsibility for the failure of this agreement rests with
members of the US cabinet that were “bitterly opposed” to any cooperation with
Russia. Clearly, you understand whom he had in mind. Therefore, it would be
naïve to expect the current US administration to adopt a different approach in
the remaining weeks of its term.
It is also public
knowledge that Washington proved unable or simply reluctant to separate the
“moderate” opposition from terrorists.
We are ready to cooperate
in the anti-terrorist fight with the team of the new US President, Donald
Trump, and not only in Syria.
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