Ladies
and gentlemen,
First
of all I would like to wish you belated happy holidays. I wish you success,
health and prosperity in the New Year. We are grateful for your participation
in our traditional news conference.
I
don’t think I should occupy too much of your time with my opening
remarks. Just recently the President of the Russian Federation held
a detailed and long news conference. Several days ago Vladimir Putin also met
with heads of Russian media outlets, in particular, news agencies. I am sure
you watched these major events and listened attentively to his comments,
including those on foreign policy issues.
I
will briefly say yet again that last year was not easy in the context of
foreign policy. There were numerous hotbeds of tension in different parts of
the world – from the Middle East and North Africa to neighbouring Ukraine. In
the last few months the situation was seriously aggravated by Washington’s
threats to resolve the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula exclusively by
force. Similar threats were made regarding the Afghan issue for which use of
force exclusively was also suggested. Recent statements aimed at sabotaging
implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear
issue did not contribute to optimism and stability, either.
Regrettably,
our American colleagues and their allies still want to operate only on the
basis of dictates and ultimatums. They do not want to listen to the views of
other centres of world politics, thereby refusing to accept the realities of
the emerging multipolar world. The methods to which they resort to contain
their competitors are, for the most part, quite dubious and conceived in bad
faith, and their range is extensive – from the deployment of a global missile
defence system to unilateral sanctions, exterritorial use of their own
legislation and, as I have already said, threats to resolve any international
issues exclusively in line with their own scenario, without stopping at
anything, including the use of crude armed force. As a result, we are
witnessing the devaluation of international law, diminishment of the role of
international institutions and a growing number of countries placing their bets
on an arms buildup which they see in the current situation as essentially the
only guarantee for preserving their sovereignty.
In
these conditions we did all we could to protect, first and foremost, the
national interests of the Russian Federation in our work in the international
arena, including the interests of our citizens and Russian businesses that are
being more and more often subjected to discrimination. In parallel, we did all
we could to defend international law and the international system that are based
on the UN Charter. Together with other constructive actors in the international
community we upheld the universal values of truth, justice and equitable and
mutually respectful cooperation and also tried to prevent the degradation of
the international system that is badly out of balance today. We wanted to do
everything to halt the descent into chaos and confrontation.
I
am prepared to speak about specific areas of our work in my answers today. I
will just mention that this year we will continue acting in the same vein as I
have just described. Naturally, this concerns the continued struggle against
terrorism, in which we have achieved success in Syria, which is undergoing a
very important stage – the transition to political settlement. In cooperation with
our Turkish and Iranian partners we are organising the Syrian National Dialogue
Congress that is supposed to be attended by a broad range of Syrian forces, as
required by UN Security Council Resolution 2254. We will work to preserve the
agreements on the Iranian nuclear programme and normalise the situation around
the Palestinian-Israeli settlement process. The unsettled Palestinian issue
seriously aggravates the situation in the Middle East. Needless to say, we will
continue working on the Ukrainian issue that can only be resolved through the
full and consistent implementation of the Package of Measures that was adopted
in Minsk in February 2015.
We
have a very important political event on our agenda – the election of the
President of the Russian Federation. Our foreign missions – embassies,
consulates general and Russian centres of science and culture are doing
everything necessary to make sure that all Russian citizens abroad who want to
take part in the election can do so as conveniently as possible.
Question: Mr
Lavrov, you are probably aware that the media often publishes lists of key
issues and expressions at the end of the year. If you were to compile such a
list in the sphere of international relations for 2017, what key stories and
phrases would you include in it?
Sergey
Lavrov: I'll stay away from the phrases, or else I may be
misunderstood again.
As
for the stories, of course, it’s Syria. This issue is a focal point for many
interests of many actors. We are trying, as I said, to use the initiative of
convening the Syrian National Dialogue Congress to harmonise the interests of
all Syrian parties and all external players who have influence on the situation
and want to secure their interests in this region, including as part of the
Syrian settlement. This is a complex process. To reiterate, we have reasons to
believe that the pro-active role of Russia, Iran and Turkey will remain
unchanged. It made the Astana process possible one year ago, helped create
de-escalation zones, which continue to operate despite individual violations
and the attempts to thwart it. It is also important that the Astana process
stimulated UN activity, which, prior to the meetings in Astana, remained, in
fact, inactive for some ten months. I hope that the initiative of the Syrian
National Dialogue Congress will also act as an incentive for the UN to step up
its activities. In any case, the Congress in Sochi is aimed at promoting the
Geneva talks. We are saying it unambiguously to all our colleagues, including
the UN leadership and the countries involved in the Syrian settlement process
in one way or another.
The
second topic, probably, includes everything else that concerns the Middle East
and North Africa. The Syrian settlement process is only a part of the complex
tangle of issues in this region. I will mention Libya and Yemen. I have already
mentioned the Palestinian-Israeli settlement process, which has ended up at an
impasse. I remain convinced that the dead-end in the Palestinian-Israeli
settlement process, in moving towards creating a Palestinian state, has a part
to play in radicalising the Arab street.
There
is another topic - Ukraine, which is artificially inflated to make it look
bigger than it is, and is seen as a touchstone in the confrontation between
Russia and the West in general. I consider this approach to be erroneous and
absolutely politicised. If we were to abandon the assessment, the prism of
confrontation between "authoritarian Russia" and the "liberal
West" through which the Ukrainian crisis is being viewed, and focus
instead on what’s written in the Minsk Agreements (everything is clearly spelled
out there and cannot be construed in more than one way), then, I think, the
Ukraine crisis would have been settled a long time ago. This would mean that
rejecting the ideology-driven interpretation of the situation as supposedly
having global significance for relations between Russia and the West would
allow our Western colleagues to move away from their thoughtless and reckless
support of the policies pursued by official Kiev designed to shirk its
commitments under the Minsk Agreements.
Of
course, we can talk at length about positive trends as well – there’s no end to
such conversations. They include promoting Eurasian integration, implementing
the greater Eurasia project with the participation of the EAEU, the SCO, and
ASEAN, its openness to new participants in the East and the West. Of course, it
is also necessary to talk about integration processes on a broader scale - in
the Asia-Pacific region, the activities of APEC, the G20, and BRICS. These
associations embody major trends of the modern world, namely, the objective
emergence of a polycentric system of international relations.
I’m
sure I forgot to mention a thing or two. I was speaking off the cuff about
issues that we have on our desks on a daily basis.
To
be continued...
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