FM Lavrov: Russian exports to Syria comply with international law
Those who take up arms to fight against the government in various regions of Syria must also abide by the Annan plan approved by the UN Security Council. The message we are trying to get across to our partners in the West, the Gulf states and Turkey is that they need to influence Syrian groups that claim they are no longer bound by the Kofi Annan plan. This position is unacceptable, so we should get it to change.
Our approach consists in convening a conference on Syria. We would like its first round to bring together all the external stakeholders that wield influence on the parties to the Syrian conflict.
Our Western partners believe the conference should agree on the Syrians’ future behind their backs, so as to impose the agreement on them later. We cannot accept this, as stated by Vladimir Putin at the press conference in Los-Cabos. We will not support ideas to impose a decision on a nation. It is the Syrian people who should determine the future of their country and their government, including Assad, and they should do so in a free and fair way through democratic procedures.
The ship bound for Syria was carrying military equipment under contracts that were signed and paid for a long time ago. That was air defence which can only be used in case of external aggression against Syria. Apart from air defence, there were three helicopters, which had been repaired in Russia under the 2008 contract. Those were old Soviet aircraft. They are still to be assembled after delivery. The entire process will take no less than three months. Therefore the speculations that Russia allegedly struck new deals and supplied arms to suppress the insurgents are simply not very decent. Our military cooperation with Syria is open and transparent. We adhere to international and Russian regulations on export control. Our regulations are, incidentally, among the toughest ones in the world.
The representatives of the Business 20, Civil 20, and Labour 20 were invited to the third G20 Sherpas' Meeting, held in St.Petersburg on May 11-12, 2013, to discuss the upcoming G20 meetings. Alexey Zharkov, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia, and John Evans, TUAC General Secretary presented the Labour 20 policy positions prior to the G20 Labour Ministers' Meeting with Social Partners on July 18 in Moscow.
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, We had valuable negotiations with Elmar Mammadyarov. We review the bilateral agenda, agreed what may foreign policy agencies of Russia and Azerbaijan do for full-scale fulfilment of the agreements reached at the level of presidents of our countries and build-up of cooperation in all spheres.
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, Today the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin had a conversation with Secretary General of the Council of Europe T.Jagland, but I had detailed negotiations with the Secretary General. We discussed the whole spectrum of issues topical for the Council of Europe at the modern stage.
Vladimir Putin met with Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland, who is in Russia on a working visit. The meeting discussed current issues concerning Russia’s relations with the Council of Europe.
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, We have completed the main part of our negotiations with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. He will have a meeting with the President of Russia in a few hours. As always, our conversation was very substantial and honest. We are sincerely interested in the consolidation of the role of the UN. This is one of the main tasks in the Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation approved by the President Vladimir Putin on 12 February 2013.
Question: I would like to start our conversation from your last international contacts and, first of all, from your meeting with US Secretary of State in Moscow on 7 May. The day after he left Moscow, John Kerry made a statement in Rome that there is no place for President Bashar al-Assad in the new transitional government. There were also statements that the White House had not made its final decision about armament of the opposition and is waiting for the results of the investigation of the use of chemical weapons in SAR to make this decision. We know about the agreements reached between Russia and the USA in Moscow, however, we would still like to understand why we have heard other statements, which do not fit within the framework of the agreements reached the day before, as soon as the US Secretary of State left Moscow.
Question: The “Partnership for Modernisation” program is a significant element of the Russian-German dialog. What else would you like to decide within the framework of this format? How do you see next stages of its implementation? Sergey Lavrov: First of all, I would like that governments do not interfere with the cooperation of companies dealing with innovations and their industrial deployment within the framework of “Partnership for Modernisation”. Governments should know how this happens, to create a legal framework, a maximally comfortable regime for such cooperation, while professionals should decide each in its sphere. The more contacts we have within the framework of “Partnership for Modernisation”, the more weighty results we achieve in the form of final products, workplaces, additional profits of companies in Russia and Germany. I think that we share these interests, especially on the background of the most magnificent events in the world and European economy.
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