Ministry of Foreign Affairs , Russian Federation February 2, 2018 Friday Russia's Lavrov discusses conflicts in former USSR, Libya, Syria Text of "Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's remarks and answers to media questions following talks with Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano Moscow, February 1, 2018" Ladies and gentlemen, We have had our traditional constructive and trust-based talks with Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Angelino Alfano, who has come to Moscow on a working visit in his capacity as the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office. We devoted most of our time to this subject. We agree that the OSCE is designed and has the ability to play a special role in finding positive collective solutions to common European challenges and can also facilitate the revival of trust in our region. We believe that the strategic goal of the organisation, which was reaffirmed at the Astana summit in 2010, is the creation of a free, democratic, common and indivisible security community stretching from Vancouver to Vladivostok. This year, we will need OSCE assistance to settle the internal Ukrainian crisis, which we discussed at length today. We believe that strict compliance with the Minsk Package of Measures is the only option, contrary to Kiev's attempts to prevent a peaceful future by staging provocations such as the full blockade of parts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions last spring, or the recent law on the reintegration of Donbass, which actually derails the Minsk Agreements, or the notorious Law on Education, which not only infringes on the language rights of Russians but also on the rights of all other ethnic minorities in Ukraine. My Italian colleague and I have agreed to continue to facilitate OSCE efforts to maintain the operation of the Contact Group and the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine. Through our combined efforts, the OSCE will continue to contribute to the settlement of the Transnistrian and Nagorno-Karabakh conflicts, co-chair the Geneva Consultations on Security and Stability in the South Caucasus and work in the Balkans. First, we would like to see the OSCE's active contribution to settling the remaining questions regarding Kosovo in strict compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 1244. We support Italy's intention to prioritise Mediterranean challenges. We share Rome's resolve to work energetically with the OSCE partner states from this vital part of the world. Russia is interested in promoting close cooperation with the Italian Chairmanship on crucial OSCE issues, such as the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking and cyber threats, the alignment of integration processes, the protection of traditional values and the rights of ethnic minorities, as well as the fight against anti-Semitism and intolerance of Christianity and Islam. We discussed this year's plans for OSCE events on these and other subjects. We spoke in favour of the continued improvement of the work of the OSCE's executive agencies and field missions. As for the planned reform of various areas of OSCE activity, Russia and its partners have long submitted their proposals. Of course, we have reaffirmed Russia's willingness to have OSCE observers at the presidential election in March 2018. The OSCE has been in contact with Russia's Central Election Commission. All the issues related to monitoring the elections have been coordinated. At the same time, we will also have observers from the CIS, the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly and the CSTO. We hope that the Election Observation Mission of the OSCE and PACE will closely cooperate with other observers invited to the upcoming elections from the above organisations. We have confirmed the ongoing implementation of crucial projects within the OSCE framework, such as drug enforcement training for Serbian and Afghan police officers at Russian Interior Ministry courses. Without a doubt, Russia and Italy have an extensive bilateral agenda. We are satisfied with how the agreements we have reached at the highest level are being implemented and how contacts are progressing between legislative and judicial authorities as well as inter-departmental and inter-regional exchanges. I am happy to say that last year trade began to grow after a rather long decline: during the first 11 months, growth was 18 per cent, reaching $21.4 billion. We will try to promote this positive trend as well as our work in the framework of the Russian-Italian Council on Economic, Industrial, Currency and Financial Cooperation, to boost industrial cooperation and production localisation of Italian companies in accordance with Russia's policy to develop investment exchange. Our cultural and humanitarian ties are also developing successfully. Two weeks ago, the Russian Seasons project opened in Italy with a concert by the Mariinsky Theatre's Symphony Orchestra conducted by Valery Gerviev. There are plans to hold over 250 events in 40 Italian cities as part of the Russian Seasons. Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Angelino Alfano told us Italy is planning to participate in the St Petersburg International Cultural Forum as a guest this year. We welcome this decision. We exchanged views on key global and regional issues. Both Russia and Italy are in favour of collective action, united efforts to effectively combat international terrorism and settle various crises. We have informed our Italian friends in detail about the Syrian National Dialogue Congress that took place two days ago in Sochi and helped promote a comprehensive intra-Syrian dialogue based on UN Security Council Resolution 2254. We believe the results of this Congress will help the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura enliven the Geneva process of negotiations between the Syrian government and a broadly representative opposition delegation, first of all, in order to develop constitutional reforms. We have a good dialogue with our Italian partners on the need for international support of a UN-sponsored political settlement in Libya. We support the steps taken by Special Representative of UN Secretary-General for Libya Ghassan Salame on the basis of the Plan of Action he has drafted. Russia and Italy have similar approaches with respect to the need to preserve the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) regarding Iran's nuclear programme. In general, I believe the talks were very useful. We will continue close cooperation with our Italian friends, including as OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and as our close partner on all the issues we have discussed today. I would like to thank Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano for the valuable conversation today. Question: The ministers mentioned the meeting in Sochi, and many of our colleagues here have also been there. In this regard, I would like to ask a question about Libya. Given Italy's relations with Libya and Russia's relations with the parties in Libya, can we expect a Libyan people's dialogue congress similar to the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi to be held any time soon? Sergey Lavrov: I fully support what Mr Alfano just said. From the outset of international efforts to bring things to order in Libya, that was torn apart by NATO aggression, which was illegal and was perpetrated in violation of the UN Security Council resolution, we have been in favour of using a national dialogue if we want to overcome the current unbearable situation. Libya has turned into a "grey zone" that is used by militants for weapons smuggling and moving further to the Sahara-Sahel region, and in the opposite direction - from south to north and further to Europe - waves of illegal migrants are moving, which has created enormous problems for many European countries, including Italy, and fairly serious tensions inside the European Union. We very much hope that we will join efforts in looking for ways to overcome the crisis in Libya, including taking into account the many problems that were created in the wake of the North Atlantic alliance changing the government in that country through bloodshed. Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Libya Ghassan Salame puts forward the right ideas, such as national reconciliation and unification, which Mr Alfano just mentioned. Like most other countries, we support them. I can see an analogy with the Congress that took place in Sochi, although at this point the Congress asked the UN to use the results achieved in Sochi primarily from the viewpoint of the beginning of the functioning of a constitutional committee. The Libyan conference could take a little more time since everything depends on the agreements that will be reached. Importantly, it is necessary to drop the attempts that were observed at the early stages of the settlement effort where bets were made on one intra-Libyan group while trying to marginalise the other participants of this drama. An inclusive dialogue is the only way to resolve Libyan problems, which are plentiful. As I said, Libya has become a gateway for all kinds of murky and criminal activity. Libya continues to present a terrorist threat. ISIS emissaries have made a home for themselves there, creating problems for neighbouring countries. The smuggling and migration crises continue unabated. Importantly, when the Libyans begin to determine the future of their country and the format of new bodies of power, they should be guided by the understanding that these new authorities should be able to resolve all these issues. I hope that the external players, too, will not be guided by their personal subjective preferences, but will help the Libyans form a government that will be capable of responding to all these challenges. Question: Despite Moscow's efforts to organise a Syrian dialogue in Sochi, some of the invited opposition groups never made it to Sochi. What will the attitude to the opinion of this part of the opposition be in light of the forthcoming political changes in Syria, especially with regard to constitutional reforms? Sergey Lavrov: Indeed, despite the unprecedented level of representation of all social groups of Syrian society, the Sochi forum was not completely inclusive. To be specific, two opposition groups did not participate in full. First, this regards the mechanism that was created by Saudi Arabia and combined the Riyadh, Moscow and Cairo groups. This group was invited in full and as a single body. We held in-depth talks with its chairman, Nasr Al-Hariri, but in the end he chose not to respond positively to our invitation. He explained this by saying that there were some disagreements within this negotiating commission created by our Saudi colleagues. However, of the 34 members of this group, about a third took part in the Sochi Congress thereby showing that this commission, too, has great interest in participating in such all-Syrian events. The second group is the opposition that is based in Istanbul. It arrived in Sochi but, for rather artificial reasons, which have no relation to a settlement, refused to participate in the Congress and went back to Istanbul. However, at the same time, these opposition members delegated their authority to Deputy Undersecretary for the Middle East and Africa at the Foreign Ministry of Turkey Sedat Onal, who participated in the Congress from beginning to end, thereby ensuring its inclusive nature in part concerning the representation of the opposition from Istanbul. We are not claiming that all the Syrians, without exception, who must ultimately participate in resolving issues concerning the future of Syria, were represented in Sochi. However, I would like to stress again that there has been no other meeting that has been even remotely as representative as the one in Sochi, which included all the groups of Syrian society without exception. UN Secretary General's Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, underscored this. In our conversation, he expressed his particular satisfaction with the fact that such lively discussions, which occasionally took place at the Congress, indicated that it was not a staged event, but a true democratic presentation of the views of the various representatives of Syrian society. I think (and Mr de Mistura also told me) that this Congress significantly helps him in his efforts to reinvigorate and make the Geneva talks viable. Question (addressed to Angelino Alfano): It is continuously emphasised that the implementation of the Minsk agreements is very important. However, we see that tensions between Russia and Ukraine are going up. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov explained why this is happening. Isn't it time for Europe to say in no uncertain terms that Kiev should do more on its end to promote this process? Sergey Lavrov (adds after Mr Alfano): I would like to add a few words. Needless to say, the Minsk agreements must be carried out. They make it clear what each party must do and when. The sequence is very important. Nonetheless, in the work in the Normandy format and the Contact Group, Russia and the newly-proclaimed republics are prepared to accept a certain amount of flexibility. This applies, in part, to the entry in force of the law on the special status of Donbass on the basis of the formula of Frank-Walter Steinmeier that was negotiated by the Normandy format leaders way back in October 2015 but cannot be put on paper because of Ukraine's position. This is one of the many egregious facts that characterise Ukraine's position. Today we informed our Italian colleagues of these facts. Mr Alfano said that nevertheless the sides may come to terms when they display the political will. I agree with this. One of the confirmations of this was the prisoner swap ahead of the New Year. Now the Contact Group is discussing the continuation of this process. We also hope that Ukraine will adhere to the agreements that have been reached because the swap ultimately took place owing to the constructive position of Donetsk and Lugansk because contrary to the initial agreements the Ukrainian Government transferred to Donbass fewer people than it was committed to. However, speaking about the ceisefire, we all had high hopes when "the school truce" was announced on the eve of the start of the school year and "the Christmas truce" mentioned by Mr Alfano was declared during the holidays. There is serious concern over the violations linked with the fact that Ukraine continues to keep illegal armed formations, the so-called volunteer battalions that are "squaring their shoulders" and gaining in strength. There were attempts to integrate them partially into the National Guards and the armed forces. Yet, they do not disappear. None of these battalions or their commanders that are still in "free flight" follow orders from the Ukrainian central authorities, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief - the President, the heads of the armed forces and the Ministry of the Interior. A few days ago a new radical, overtly neo-Nazi structure was established there. It was called the National Corps or the National Squad. We are deeply worried by this trend. The monopoly on using force is eroded and cannot be restored when radicals with neo-Nazi sympathies start calling the shots and dispensing justice. They continue making provocations, including along the contact line with the newly-proclaimed republics. We hope our European colleagues, primarily France and Germany will pay attention to this as participants in the Normandy format. This phenomenon is becoming open and overtly undermines the ability and capacity of the Ukrainian authorities to carry out the Minsk agreements. It is important to bear this in mind, not to mention the alarming trends that are gaining momentum in some other European countries on a broader scale. I am referring to the attempts to whitewash Nazi criminals and revive neo-Nazi sentiment. Question (addressed to both ministers): Mr Alfano said previously that Italy would focus on the so-called protracted conflicts, including the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, within the framework of its OSCE Chairmanship. Do you think the anticipated expansion of the office of the Chairperson-in-Office personal representative on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will promote a settlement? Do you plan to visit the region this year? Sergey Lavrov (speaking after Angelino Alfano): As far as I know, the idea is not to expand the office of the Chairperson-in-Office personal representative on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict but to increase the number of OSCE observers at the contact line. This began some time ago. Back in early 2010, talks were held on confidence-building measures in this conflict zone. However, following the flare-up of violence on the contact line in April 2016, the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan held a meeting in Vienna that was attended by the foreign ministers of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs. In June 2016, the presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia held a trilateral meeting in St Petersburg. It was also attended by representatives from the co-chair countries. An agreement was reached at that meeting to reinforce the group of OSCE observers at the contact line with several people, not more than six or seven, as a practical confidence-building measure. Work went on after that, and I believe that the parties are now close to coordinating the practical parameters for implementing this agreement. We hope that the OSCE will be able to implement it without delay. Some people wonder if the decision to increase the number of observers and consolidate security at the contact line could result in the perpetuation of the conflict and remove the impetus for a political settlement. I believe we should remember that the settlement of any conflict, whether it is Nagorno-Karabakh or Donbass, should include parallel and synchronised comprehensive processes comprising measures to strengthen security and bring about a political settlement. Anyway, the logic of "the more they shoot, the sooner they will accept an agreement" will hardly accomplish anything in reality. I hope that the decisions that the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia have coordinated and that the Minsk Group co-chairs and OSCE representatives have supported will be carried out.