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SPEECH BY RUSSIAN FM LAVROV DURING JOINT PRESS CONFERENCE IN BAKU
States News Service
June 18, 2014 Wednesday
SPEECH BY THE RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER, SERGEY LAVROV, AND HIS ANSWERS
TO QUESTIONS FROM THE MASS MEDIA DURING THE JOINT PRESS CONFERENCE
SUMMARISING THE RESULTS OF NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE MINISTER OF FOREIGN
AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN, ELMAR MAMMADYAROV, BAKU,
18 JUNE 2014
MOSCOW, Russia
The following information was released by the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of the Russian Federation:
1461-18-06-2014
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We had very valuable negotiations with Elmar Mammadyarov. Azerbaijan
is our strategic partner. We are developing our relations on the basis
of the principles of friendship, neighbourliness, equality and mutual
benefit. These principles have shaped our relationship over the ages;
we should multiply and transfer them to future generations.
Our cooperation is developing intensively not only in the bilateral
format, but also in different multilateral areas, including stability
and security problems in the South Caucasus and in the Caspian region.
As Elmar Mammadyarov has said, our work is based on the agreements
reached, when the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin,
visited Azerbaijan in August 2013. There is an intensive exchange
of delegations - a series of events with participation of Russian
representatives of executive and legislative power are scheduled
for June in Azerbaijan. A reciprocal flow of delegations is sent
to Russia as well. The Russian-Azerbaijani regional forum will be
held in Gabala in the near future, where 200 representatives from 25
constituent entities of the Russian Federation will participate. The
Baku international humanitarian forum, which is held under patronage
of presidents of our two countries, is scheduled for this October. We
noted with satisfaction that the preparations are going well.
We have set up regular dialogue on regional and international
problems. We touched upon the situation in the Nagorny Karabakh
settlement. We welcomed the meeting between the presidents of Armenia
and Azerbaijan in Vienna last autumn. We noted the efforts of the
co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group to promote the formalisation of the
understanding reached between the presidents. The quicker we coordinate
the sequence of practical steps, which will allow the deescalation
of the situation and come to a sustainable settlement, the better it
is for Armenia, Azerbaijan and the entire Caucasian region.
We touched upon the situation in Ukraine. Tragic events are happening
there - people are dying in the area of military actions, your
colleague journalists are dying, as happened yesterday with two VGTRK
correspondents. We express our condolences and confirm our solidarity
with all those who are working in the zone of military actions. We
believe that it is another signal for an immediate cease fire and
de-escalate the situation and begin negotiations on the basis of the
propositions, which are included into the Geneva Statement of the 17
April and the "roadmap" of the Current OSCE President.
We exchanged opinions on the situation in the Middle East - in Syria,
Iraq and area around these countries - because, firstly, we are close
to this troubled region, and, secondly, international terrorism has
raised its head there now, and those who join its troops will not
stop at promoting their harmful plans only there. This is our common
task, because it is a threat for everybody - for Russia, Azerbaijan
and Europe. We agreed to activate contacts in all the directions for
the purposes of counter-terrorism.
We reviewed the problems of the Caspian cooperation in the context of
preparations for the 4th Caspian summit, which is scheduled for the
end of September in Astrakhan. We discussed the course of preparation
of the final documents of this important event.
We agreed to extend our cooperation within the framework of
international organisations - the UN, the OSCE, and the Council of
Europe where Azerbaijan is a president in the Ministerial Committee.
We expect there to be close cooperation in other multilateral formats
as well.
I am quite satisfied with the results of the negotiations and express
sincere gratitude to my colleague and friend for his traditional
hospitality.
Question: In the near future the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada is going
to turn to the President Petro Poroshenko asking him to introduce a
martial law in the territory of the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions. In
your opinion, how will it affect the situation in the region, and
won't it lead to the de-escalation, of which they are talking so much?
Furthermore, could our please comment on the information that Petro
Poroshenko proposes a unilateral cease fire to let the separatists,
as he calls them, in the East of Ukraine lay down their weapons.
Sergey Lavrov: As to the idea to introduce a martial law, I do not
see how it can lead to de-escalation. On the contrary, the martial
law is introduced to give a free hand for the authorities, to rely
on the brutal military force even more to suppress protests in the
South-East. Therefore, I expect that the Verkhovna Rada will be
reasonable, although, I repeat, nothing can be excluded. We have
seen many manifestations of unimaginable aggression from the current
Ukrainian leaders.
The same concerns the unilateral cease fire. If the aim of this
initiative is to make the cease fire comprehensive, so that the
insurgents, protesting against the authorities, could show their good
will; if negotiations followed, representatives of the South-East
were invited to them, then I guess it would be the step, which the
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko promised to make and which we
are waiting from him so much. Or everything is formulated like a
unilateral cease fire for a certain period, to let the insurgents lay
down their weapons, and then, as Kiev promised (they are conflicting
in their strong statements) to put them into prison for life. I heard
of another variant, that such a temporary cease fire is required to
let the "separatists" leave the territory of Ukraine. This is close
to ethnic cleansing, if it is proposed that Russian-speaking and
ethnically Russian population leave the country and if the authorities
do not want to consider their legal obligations towards them. I also
read a reprint of one of Ukrainian newspapers, that the parallel plan
is to resettle up to 250,000 of Ukrainian nationals from western
regions to the South-East. You know, this is undoubtedly serious
social engineering.
If it is true, then such intents are contrary to the trends of the
modern European civilisation, which consist in the need for everybody
to live and have respect for ethnic, language, cultural, humanitarian
and religious traditions. If we talk about European values, then the
way the Ukrainian representatives conducted negotiations about gas
- exclusively based on ultimatums, showing no negotiation culture -
they did this in an un-European way. This is probably is the behaviour
of those, who believe that they are exclusive or their patrons are
exclusive. This is where the all-permissiveness is born. These are
links of one chain: both the absolutely outrageous uncompromising
ultimatum position at negotiations, and intents to resolve the conflict
in the South-East by introducing a martial law or using ultimatums
against their nationals.
Question: Russia is inviting Azerbaijan to join the EurAsEC. How
will the conflict in the Nagorny Karbakh be resolved within this
organisation, if Azerbaijan joins it?
Sergey Lavrov (answers after Elmar Mammadyarov): There was no formal
invitation to Azerbaijan to join the Customs Union or the created
Eurasian Economic Union. However, in the contacts between our leaders,
when they touched upon the topic of economic cooperation, we always
noted that we will be pleased to have any partner who shows interest
in becoming closer to the Customs Union and later the Eurasian
Economic Union.
The Nagorny Karabakh problem has nothing to do with the process of
the Eurasian economic integration, which are currently taking place
between Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, and very soon Armenia, after
respective documents are signed. These processes are taking place in
the territories of the states, which are members of the Customs Union.
Nagorny Karabakh is not such a state, it is a subject matter of
international negotiations, which are conducted based on a range of
principles, which were agreed between the parties. Armenia already
announced its participation in the WTO within the framework of
the borders recognised by the UN, it does not pretend to have any
other borders. The same will take place with regard to the Eurasian
Economic Union.
States News Service
June 18, 2014 Wednesday
SPEECH BY THE RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER, SERGEY LAVROV, AND HIS ANSWERS
TO QUESTIONS FROM THE MASS MEDIA DURING THE JOINT PRESS CONFERENCE
SUMMARISING THE RESULTS OF NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE MINISTER OF FOREIGN
AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN, ELMAR MAMMADYAROV, BAKU,
18 JUNE 2014
MOSCOW, Russia
The following information was released by the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of the Russian Federation:
1461-18-06-2014
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We had very valuable negotiations with Elmar Mammadyarov. Azerbaijan
is our strategic partner. We are developing our relations on the basis
of the principles of friendship, neighbourliness, equality and mutual
benefit. These principles have shaped our relationship over the ages;
we should multiply and transfer them to future generations.
Our cooperation is developing intensively not only in the bilateral
format, but also in different multilateral areas, including stability
and security problems in the South Caucasus and in the Caspian region.
As Elmar Mammadyarov has said, our work is based on the agreements
reached, when the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin,
visited Azerbaijan in August 2013. There is an intensive exchange
of delegations - a series of events with participation of Russian
representatives of executive and legislative power are scheduled
for June in Azerbaijan. A reciprocal flow of delegations is sent
to Russia as well. The Russian-Azerbaijani regional forum will be
held in Gabala in the near future, where 200 representatives from 25
constituent entities of the Russian Federation will participate. The
Baku international humanitarian forum, which is held under patronage
of presidents of our two countries, is scheduled for this October. We
noted with satisfaction that the preparations are going well.
We have set up regular dialogue on regional and international
problems. We touched upon the situation in the Nagorny Karabakh
settlement. We welcomed the meeting between the presidents of Armenia
and Azerbaijan in Vienna last autumn. We noted the efforts of the
co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group to promote the formalisation of the
understanding reached between the presidents. The quicker we coordinate
the sequence of practical steps, which will allow the deescalation
of the situation and come to a sustainable settlement, the better it
is for Armenia, Azerbaijan and the entire Caucasian region.
We touched upon the situation in Ukraine. Tragic events are happening
there - people are dying in the area of military actions, your
colleague journalists are dying, as happened yesterday with two VGTRK
correspondents. We express our condolences and confirm our solidarity
with all those who are working in the zone of military actions. We
believe that it is another signal for an immediate cease fire and
de-escalate the situation and begin negotiations on the basis of the
propositions, which are included into the Geneva Statement of the 17
April and the "roadmap" of the Current OSCE President.
We exchanged opinions on the situation in the Middle East - in Syria,
Iraq and area around these countries - because, firstly, we are close
to this troubled region, and, secondly, international terrorism has
raised its head there now, and those who join its troops will not
stop at promoting their harmful plans only there. This is our common
task, because it is a threat for everybody - for Russia, Azerbaijan
and Europe. We agreed to activate contacts in all the directions for
the purposes of counter-terrorism.
We reviewed the problems of the Caspian cooperation in the context of
preparations for the 4th Caspian summit, which is scheduled for the
end of September in Astrakhan. We discussed the course of preparation
of the final documents of this important event.
We agreed to extend our cooperation within the framework of
international organisations - the UN, the OSCE, and the Council of
Europe where Azerbaijan is a president in the Ministerial Committee.
We expect there to be close cooperation in other multilateral formats
as well.
I am quite satisfied with the results of the negotiations and express
sincere gratitude to my colleague and friend for his traditional
hospitality.
Question: In the near future the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada is going
to turn to the President Petro Poroshenko asking him to introduce a
martial law in the territory of the Donetsk and Lugansk Regions. In
your opinion, how will it affect the situation in the region, and
won't it lead to the de-escalation, of which they are talking so much?
Furthermore, could our please comment on the information that Petro
Poroshenko proposes a unilateral cease fire to let the separatists,
as he calls them, in the East of Ukraine lay down their weapons.
Sergey Lavrov: As to the idea to introduce a martial law, I do not
see how it can lead to de-escalation. On the contrary, the martial
law is introduced to give a free hand for the authorities, to rely
on the brutal military force even more to suppress protests in the
South-East. Therefore, I expect that the Verkhovna Rada will be
reasonable, although, I repeat, nothing can be excluded. We have
seen many manifestations of unimaginable aggression from the current
Ukrainian leaders.
The same concerns the unilateral cease fire. If the aim of this
initiative is to make the cease fire comprehensive, so that the
insurgents, protesting against the authorities, could show their good
will; if negotiations followed, representatives of the South-East
were invited to them, then I guess it would be the step, which the
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko promised to make and which we
are waiting from him so much. Or everything is formulated like a
unilateral cease fire for a certain period, to let the insurgents lay
down their weapons, and then, as Kiev promised (they are conflicting
in their strong statements) to put them into prison for life. I heard
of another variant, that such a temporary cease fire is required to
let the "separatists" leave the territory of Ukraine. This is close
to ethnic cleansing, if it is proposed that Russian-speaking and
ethnically Russian population leave the country and if the authorities
do not want to consider their legal obligations towards them. I also
read a reprint of one of Ukrainian newspapers, that the parallel plan
is to resettle up to 250,000 of Ukrainian nationals from western
regions to the South-East. You know, this is undoubtedly serious
social engineering.
If it is true, then such intents are contrary to the trends of the
modern European civilisation, which consist in the need for everybody
to live and have respect for ethnic, language, cultural, humanitarian
and religious traditions. If we talk about European values, then the
way the Ukrainian representatives conducted negotiations about gas
- exclusively based on ultimatums, showing no negotiation culture -
they did this in an un-European way. This is probably is the behaviour
of those, who believe that they are exclusive or their patrons are
exclusive. This is where the all-permissiveness is born. These are
links of one chain: both the absolutely outrageous uncompromising
ultimatum position at negotiations, and intents to resolve the conflict
in the South-East by introducing a martial law or using ultimatums
against their nationals.
Question: Russia is inviting Azerbaijan to join the EurAsEC. How
will the conflict in the Nagorny Karbakh be resolved within this
organisation, if Azerbaijan joins it?
Sergey Lavrov (answers after Elmar Mammadyarov): There was no formal
invitation to Azerbaijan to join the Customs Union or the created
Eurasian Economic Union. However, in the contacts between our leaders,
when they touched upon the topic of economic cooperation, we always
noted that we will be pleased to have any partner who shows interest
in becoming closer to the Customs Union and later the Eurasian
Economic Union.
The Nagorny Karabakh problem has nothing to do with the process of
the Eurasian economic integration, which are currently taking place
between Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, and very soon Armenia, after
respective documents are signed. These processes are taking place in
the territories of the states, which are members of the Customs Union.
Nagorny Karabakh is not such a state, it is a subject matter of
international negotiations, which are conducted based on a range of
principles, which were agreed between the parties. Armenia already
announced its participation in the WTO within the framework of
the borders recognised by the UN, it does not pretend to have any
other borders. The same will take place with regard to the Eurasian
Economic Union.