PRESS RELEASES AND NEWS
Pages: ««« :: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 :: »»»
What comes to my mind now is briefings by Mark Lowcock on, say, Yemen or Libya, where both the tone and presentation are completely different from those at briefings on Syria. Don’t you have the same feeling? It is not the first time such a thing comes to my mind.
As usual, today we heard another portion of invectives against Syria and Russia. Colleagues spouted figures, quotes and emotional testimonies. By the way, we know the price of some of those emotional testimonies. We remember leading Western Media, e.g. “New York Times”, inflate the tragedy of a Syrian boy Omran Daqneesh from Aleppo. However, after Eastern Aleppo had been liberated, this turned out to have been a staged episode. Later on, the boy’s parents confirmed this. Today my British colleague accused Russia of mocking at the Security Council. I do not intend to turn this meeting into a contest (by the way, I do not know what exactly she held for a mockery), but we remember a mockery at the Security Council that comes from those countries who are used to blaming Russia for everything.
Ensuring security in a strategically important Gulf area is one of the major regional challenges of our time. Military and political shocks, outbursts of terrorist activities of the recent years in this region of the world abounding with hydrocarbon resources, are fraught with disastrous consequences for the system of international relations, global economic and, first and foremost, energy security.
Q: How would you comment on the statement made by the Foreign Office spokesperson regarding the detention of participants of the unauthorised rally in Moscow on 27 July?
A.: It is our understanding that our British colleagues have made no attempt to objectively assess the situation. In this regard we would like to point out that the rally in Moscow city centre was illegal. The people detained in its course committed a number of offences.
Question: How do you asses the EU visa restrictions imposed on Crimean residents?
Answer: A number of Western countries, not only the EU, continue their attempts to punish residents of Crimea for their will for self-determination expressed in a referendum in 2014. We consider these actions as a violation of fundamental personal rights of the Russian citizens living on the Crimean peninsula, particularly their inalienable right to freedom of movement. It runs contrary to the international standards in the human rights sphere, usually so jealously defended by European representatives.
The BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting has just ended. Its results are presented in the joint statement which was adopted and is being spread. I will emphasise several points which I think are important.
First, all the BRICS members expressly confirmed their commitment to the principles of international law, the goals and principles of the UN Charter, its central role in matters of peace, security and development. This statement has been worded very clearly, and bears special significance now when all principles of international law are under pressure from those who would like to replace them with some sort of rules. We had an informal and very straightforward conversation about that. We have a shared understanding that universally approved norms and principles of international law must not be allowed to fade away, especially those, as I have said, that are enshrined in the UN Charter.
Q: After the incidents in Salisbury and Amesbury a group of countries, including Russia, are making proposals to update the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) control lists. How would you comment on the issue?
A: Unfortunately, the situation remains complicated. After Russia had been groundlessly accused in using “Novichok” nerve agent in Salisbury and Amesbury, we presented a set of proposals on updating the CWC control lists to the OPCW Technical Secretariat in order to make it more relevant and effective. The Russian initiative shows a much more complex and comprehensive approach than the Western one (proposed by the US, Canada and the Netherlands) as it suggests that all the “families” of chemicals related to the so-called “Novichoks” should be included into the control lists.
Question: How would you comment on the publications in British media regarding allegedly Russian and Syrian airstrikes on Maarat al-Numaan in the Syrian province of Idlib? Answer: We took note of further farfetched allegations in British media and would like to advise that these publications do not hold up to close scrutiny, as they are based on the information from anonymous representatives of the notorious White Helmets organization, which is financed by the US and UK.
On July 18, Tim Richardson, a minister-counselor of the US embassy in Russia, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry of Russia to receive a strong protest in connection with US media and officials’ statements alleging that Russia denied visas to teachers at the Anglo-American School in Moscow. It was stressed that the statements are absolutely untrue and that, in reality, the situation is the opposite.
Questions: Germans would like to have better relations with Russia. What could Russia do towards this?
Sergey Lavrov: I can assure you that Russians are interested in developing multifaceted cooperation with Germany as well, the more so that your country is one of Russia’s major partners in Europe.
Q: How would you comment on the statements made by UK Prime Minister Theresa May on Russia during her speech at the Royal Institute of International Affairs on 17 July?
A.: We would like to say the following regarding Mrs May’s recent statements concerning our country.
Pages: ««« :: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 :: »»»
| 
