EMBASSY INFORMS
Pages: ««« :: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 :: »»»
To begin with I would like to thank High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini for the opportunity to hold today’s meeting. As soon as Ms Mogherini learned that I was invited to visit Belgium, she immediately asked me about this meeting. I agreed with pleasure.
On July 12, State Secretary, Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin received US Ambassador to Russia John Tefft at his request.
The Iraqi authorities have announced the completion of capturing Mosul. This message was delivered from the liberated city by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who arrived as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to personally congratulate servicemen and militias.
Over the last two weeks, the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine reported on new manifestations of radicalism in Ukraine. Extremists are trying to influence government decisions, and are seeking to destabilise the Ukrainian state. Between June 19 and 24, the SMM witnessed rallies by former Aydar battalion members held after their former commander, member of the Ukrainian parliament Sergey Melnichuk, was called in for questioning on terrorism charges. On June 21, the SMM reported an attempt in Kharkov to prevent journalists from entering the city council. On June 24, monitors witnessed protests staged by the Right Sector in Dnepropetrovsk against the appointment of a local police chief who used to be a Berkut commander.
In light of foreign and Russian media comments on the June 30 Statement by the Foreign Ministry Concerning the Suspension of Payment of Russia’s Contribution to the Council of Europe for 2017, we have decided to publish an explanation.
President Putin and I have been discussing various things, and I think it’s going very well. We’ve had some very, very good talks. We’re going to have a talk now, and obviously that will continue. But we look forward to a lot of very positive things happening for Russia, for the United States, and for everybody concerned. And it’s an honour to be with you. Thank you.
The G20 leaders held a meeting on counter-terrorism efforts.
Question: Mr Lavrov, how did this long meeting go?
Sergey Lavrov: If the presidents see that they have issues to discuss and to solve something rather than just exchange opinions, I don’t think that time is of paramount importance. Indeed, they had a very long conversation. My feeling was confirmed that President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and President of the United States Donald Trump are driven by the national interests of their countries and pursue them primarily by seeking to achieve mutually beneficial agreements rather than trying to act out confrontational scenarios and invent problems out of the blue. It was in this concrete and business-like vein that Syria, Ukraine, the Korean Peninsula, cyber security and a number of other issues were discussed.
Agreements were reached on some quite concrete things.
There are speculations about the chemical incident in Khan Sheikhoun on April 4 flared up by the recent report by the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission in Syria (FFMS). On the surface, this report looks somewhat respectable, has been welcomed by some countries as a “highly professional” piece of work and even hailed to have provided incontestable evidence of Damascus’ guilt for the “chemical attack”.
Russia’s assessments of this document are much more reserved. Its quality leaves much to be desired and let me explain why we think so.
The recent DPRK’s missile launch caused serious concerns in the international community. These actions contradict relevant UN Security Council resolutions. Meanwhile, to avoid further escalation we all should maintain calm, renounce provocative moves or belligerence of all types and work actively together to defuse tension. Re-launching a dialogue on the comprehensive resolution of the problems is the only way to a sustainable settlement.
Pages: ««« :: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 :: »»»
| 
