In an interview with Radio Echo Moskvy on 21 June 2012, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described as ‘unrealistic’ Western leaders’ demands for Syrian President Bashar Assad’s free-will resignation.Lavrov criticized the West’s scheme which cites Assad’s resignation as the only way to halt the violence in Greece. He recalled that at least 50 percent of Syrians supported Assad’s party during the elections.Separately, Lavrov commented on a statement by French President Francois Hollande who said that Assad’s stepping down should become a precondition for the resolution of the Syrian crisis.The top Russian diplomat said that the West’s Syria policy may lead to radicals’ coming to power there, something that will, in turn, damage security interests of moderate Muslims and Christians.
The Foreign Minister also gave suggestions for implementing the Annan plan: the Syrian government and the opposition should simultaneously withdraw their troops from the country’s cities and villages, a process that should be overseen by UN observers. For this to happen, Russia is ready to give the go-ahead for an increase in the number of UN observers in Syria.
Question (addressed to US Secretary of State John Kerry and Sergey Lavrov): After your recent discussions, including on Syria and the episode of detention of a US Embassy official in Moscow on a charge of espionage, do you think that your collective work is constructive? Sergey Lavrov (answers after John Kerry): Regarding the incident of the detention of a US Embassy official in Moscow that you have mentioned, everything, that the Russian party wished to say about it, was said yesterday in the comment of the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia. I have nothing to add.
Dear Mr Chairman,Dear colleagues, friends, First of all, I would like to thank our Swedish hosts for their hospitality, good organization of the today’s meeting and to congratulate Mr Carl Bildt with the results that were reached by the Arctic Council under Swedish chairmanship.
Today we sign the second in history legally binding panarctic document – Agreement on Cooperation on Marine Oil Pollution Preparedness and Response in the Arctic. This is another evidence of high responsibility of Arctic countries for the state of affairs in the region. The next is the preparation of the Agreement on Marine Oil Spill Prevention.
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