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.