PRESS RELEASES AND NEWS
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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.
Five years ago, on July 17, 2014, Malaysia Airlines ‘Boeing’, a civilian aircraft operating flight МН17 from Amsterdam to Kuala-Lumpur, crashed in eastern Ukraine. All 298 people on board died.
Unfortunately, this tragedy became a tool in a dirty political game. Within only hours, if not minutes, after the crash, as if prompted by someone, media and then Western political leaders launched a salvo of accusations against Russia for the killing of innocent people.
We are thankful to the Peruvian Presidency for convening this meeting.
For a start, we absolutely agree that to protect the language of the titular nation is a duty of any State, including Ukraine. What we are saying is aimed not to undermine the Ukrainian language, which people in Russia understand, love, and respect; but to protect the Russian language, that the biased Ukrainian authorities took to eradicate using draconian ignorant methods, which is ban on the use of Russian in the major part of Ukrainian public space. I do not even say that this runs counter to any convention on protection of national minorities and basic human rights. What I say is that it runs counter to any common sense and basic norms of civilized behavior.
Question: How would you comment on UK’s decision not to issue a visa to the Russian delegate who intended to participate in the Global Conference on Media Freedom? Answer: It is well-known that visas for official travel have become one of the problems of the current Russia-UK relations. But even in these conditions not issuing a visa to a representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry travelling to participate in the conference looks really weird. The UK side itself invited the Russian side to participate in the conference, accredited the Russian delegate, but then refused to issue him a visa, thus sabotaging the visit.
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