| Sergei Lavrov spoke about strengthening the international position Yesterday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a press conference on the results of Russian diplomacy in 2005. Anticipating the answers to questions, the minister stated that “the foreign policy results of the year are positive for Russia,” while the strengthening of our country’s international position took place “regardless of the political situation.” According to Mr. Lavrov, this was facilitated by “pragmatism, multi-vectorism, the conditioning of foreign policy activities by national interests, and the rejection of confrontation in protecting these interests.” The minister admitted that problems “remain and have existed.” But still, “the general vector of international development corresponded to our assessments and approaches.”
As one might expect, the journalists gathered at the event were primarily interested in problems. About four dozen questions were asked. The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Mikhail Kamynin, assessed “the journalistic activity quite highly” and emphasized to the Vremya Novostei correspondent that among the questions “there was not a single one concerning the situation in the Chechen Republic or the state of affairs with democracy and freedoms in Russia.” The federal law on non-governmental and non-profit organizations, signed recently by Vladimir Putin, which is of great concern to Russia’s Western partners, also did not raise any questions.
During his conversation with the media, Sergei Lavrov outlined Russia’s foreign policy guidelines in the context of its presidency of the G8. The main topics will be energy security, epidemic control and education. At the same time, Mr. Lavrov resolutely rejected insinuations regarding our country’s place in the G8: “We do not see any doubts that Russia is the chairman of the G8.”
The head of Russian diplomacy paid special attention to the “multi-level, multi-speed integration” that has developed in the CIS. He recalled last year's summit in Kazan, at which “the beginning of the reform of the CIS was laid.” The minister listed the merger of the EurAsEC and the Central Asian Community, as well as integration processes within the Common Economic Space, as important results of 2005 in the post-Soviet space.
In the past year, Russia dotted its i's in relations with Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova. Having “positively” assessed the level of relations with Belarus, Mr. Lavrov touched upon the “legal nonsense” in relations with Kiev, in particular in the situation around the facilities of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. The Foreign Minister emphasized the importance of using Belarusian transit while preserving the Ukrainian pipeline and the construction of the North European Gas Pipeline for the energy security of Europe, promising that “there will be no interruptions in gas supplies.”
At the same time, Moscow remains concerned about the fate of its compatriots. Mr. Lavrov called their classification in Latvia as “non-citizens” an “anomaly.” At the same time, the minister announced Russia’s readiness to resolve the border issue with Latvia and Estonia from a “clean slate”, without “links” and “makeweights”.
The hottest topic of the press conference was Iran (see pages 1--2). The Middle East topic also aroused interest - Mr. Lavrov unequivocally stated that he considers it possible to create a nuclear-free zone in the region. Russia's position regarding the “emotional topic” of reforming the UN and its Security Council was also specified. The key point remains the search for a compromise so that putting a resolution on UN Security Council reform to a vote does not split the organization itself.
Among the significant events of the past year, the minister named the UN Summit 2005, where the world community’s commitment to the goals and principles of the UN was confirmed, and also, at Russia’s initiative, a convention on combating acts of nuclear terrorism was presented for signature. Sergei Lavrov called Russian-American relations “an essential element of maintaining global and regional stability.” Katerina LABETSKAYA |
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