Sergei Lavrov
Russia has no intention of ratifying the Energy Charger treaty, because it contains flaws and these flaws are well-known to the European Union, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.
“Russia’s position is beginning to be understood better at last. The latest meeting of the Energy Charter participants was evidence of that,†he said.
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November 22, 2006
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Sunday that the United States has lifted sanctions on jet maker Sukhoi.
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November 20, 2006
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has visited Ukraine for talks on Wednesday the Associated Press news agency reports.
The main purpose of the visit was described as improving bilateral ties of two countries. However the complicated question of Russian Black Sea Fleet which is still staying on Ukrainian territory was also expected to be discussed.
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November 8, 2006
Russia will agree to United Nations sanctions against Iran if they have a defined timeframe and an agreed mechanism for lifting them, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday, the Reuters news agency reported.
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November 7, 2006
Russia is against an imposed solution for Kosovo because any decision must be acceptable to all parties to work, Russia’s foreign minister said on Friday.
“It can only be a compromise, it has to be a decision which is acceptable to all parties,†Sergei Lavrov told a news conference after talks with the European Union in Brussels, the Reuters news agency reported.
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Angolan President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos arrives in Moscow for a three-day visit Monday with an agenda dominated by bilateral economic and international issues, Kremlin press office reported in Monday.
Russia has been seeking to re-establish contacts with African states, including oil-rich Angola, under President Vladimir Putin. The president and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made separate tours of the continent this fall, signaling a fresh interest in business cooperation since the collapse of the Soviet Union, which supplied arms and other goods to Africa in the ideological standoff with the West.
Russia is currently Angola’s 10th largest partner, according to Rossiiskaya Gazeta, a government daily. But meeting with Lavrov in September, Soviet-educated Dos Santos urged more intensive cooperation with Russia, above all in the development of new iron ore, oil and gas deposits, and space.
The Kremlin press office said: “A set of bilateral documents is expected to be signed at the meeting.†Other areas of cooperation between Russia and Angola include diamond production, power engineering, and fisheries. Russia’s largest diamond producer, Alrosa, has about a 40% stake in the Catoca diamond joint venture in Angola, which produces around 6 million carats of crude diamonds a year.
Russian companies are helping the country build the largest hydropower plant in the region, with a capacity of 520 mWt, and are in talks on the construction of power lines. Russian fishing companies also catch up to 25,000 metric tons of sea products a year in Angolan waters.
Angola has shown brisk economic development exploiting its vast mineral resources since the government signed a ceasefire agreement with American-backed UNITA rebels in 2002, following 27 years of bloody civil war. The country, which was in ruins several years ago, plans to export up to 2 million barrels of oil annually, largely to the United States and China, by 2008, RIA Novosti reports.
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October 30, 2006
Russia has rejected a draft UN resolution put forward by European powers targeting Iran’s nuclear program, saying the proposed measures did not advance objectives agreed on earlier by major world powers, AFP reported.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the resolution put forward Wednesday by Britain, France and Germany would not be effective in containing Iran’s program and contradicted the consensus reached by the five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany.
“I think that in this respect the draft resolution that has been presented clearly does not further the objectives that the six powers agreed on earlier,†Lavrov was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency Thursday.
Those goals, Lavrov said, are preventing proliferation of “sensitive technology†without the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency, while also keeping open “all necessary channels of communication with Iran.â€
The foreign ministry’s deputy head, Sergei Kislyak, said separately that Russia was “carefully studying†the draft resolution. However, a “long negotiating process is required†to find a mutually acceptable decision, he was quoted as saying by Interfax.
Russia has long resisted the West’s push for tough sanctions, partly due to a lucrative contract to construct Iran’s first civilian nuclear power station at Bushehr.
The draft resolution, which proposes “necessary measures†to prevent nuclear and missile technology from reaching Iran, does not directly mention the construction work at Bushehr.
The United States has called on Russia to halt nuclear cooperation with Iran, but France’s UN ambassador, Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, said the Europeans favored exempting the lucrative Bushehr project.
Kislyak told Interfax: “There are much bigger problems there than the construction of the Bushehr station.â€
In comments released Saturday, Lavrov repeated Russia’s insistence that Iran respect international demands on its nuclear programme, but also said: “We cannot support and will actively oppose any attempt to use the Security Council to punish Iran or to use Iran’s nuclear program in order to promote the idea of regime change.â€
De la Sabliere, who played a key role in drafting the proposed sanctions, said they invoked Article 41 of Chapter Seven of the UN Charter which calls for sanctions not involving the use of force.
The draft warns that the Security Council would “consider further measures†if Iran still refused to comply with a demand that it freeze uranium enrichment, a process used to produce fuel for nuclear reactors but which, if extended, can also provide the raw material for bombs.
De La Sabliere told reporters that the text also contained a freeze on assets related to Iran’s nuclear and missile programs as well as travel bans on nuclear and weapons scientists.
He said the draft would be discussed Thursday among envoys of the council’s five veto-wielding members, Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany.
He added that the punitive measures were needed to respond to Tehran’s defiance after the failure of negotiations between European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani.
Russia has long been closely involved in Iran and in addition to building the Bushehr power station is a major supplier of hi-tech conventional weapons to Tehran.
But repeated delays in completing the Bushehr power station have prompted speculation that Moscow is quietly heeding Washington’s warnings.
On Wednesday Sergei Shmatko, the head of the Russian company that is heading the project, Atomstroiexport, announced further delays in construction, insisting that the reasons were technical in nature.
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October 27, 2006
Russia on Thursday expressed misgivings about a European draft U.N. resolution imposing sanctions on Iran, which the United States supports but wants to strengthen, the Reuters news agency reports.
Russia, the United States, Britain, France, China and Germany held their first meeting on Thursday afternoon on the draft Security Council resolution, which would ban Iranian trade in nuclear materials and ballistic missiles. But Western diplomats do not expect the six to agree until the middle of next week, at the earliest, after which the text would be circulated to the full 15-member council.
The resolution is in response to U.N. demands that Tehran suspend by August 31 its uranium-enrichment activities, which the West believes are a cover for bomb-making. Iran says its program is aimed solely at energy production.
Speaking in Russia, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the European draft did not match previous agreements among the major powers seeking to rein in Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and predicted long negotiations before the issue is resolved. He said the object was to “eliminate the risks of sensitive technology falling into Iran’s hands†and stressed the importance of dealing with Iran through the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog.
Lavrov said it appeared that the “proposed resolution clearly does not meet the tasks earlier agreed by the six.â€
The United States wants to suspend Russia’s construction of a nuclear power plant at Bushehr — something diplomats say is a negotiating tactic as Washington tries to strengthen other measures in the resolution. The Europeans refused, saying they had to meet some of Russia’s and China’s concerns, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks are in progress.
But State Department spokesman Sean McCormack expressed U.S. backing for the European draft, saying, “We have fully supported that effort from the very beginning.†He also played down differences with Russia, saying that Washington understood Moscow’s fears about putting too much pressure on Iran.
“We know that the Russians have some concerns about the tactics and concerns about applying too much pressure too quickly on the Iranians. We certainly understand their point of view,†McCormack told reporters in Washington.
The resolution makes clear that Russia cannot deliver a fuel cycle, which the West fears could be used for a nuclear weapon, unless it is approved by all 15 members of a Security Council sanctions committee. The $800 million reactor is expected to go into operation next year.
The draft resolution, obtained by Reuters, would invoke Article 41 under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which calls for enforcement of sanctions but excludes military action. In addition to exempting the Bushehr reactor, the text:
- Demands nations “prevent the supply, sale or transfer†to Iran of “all items, materials, equipment, goods and technology which could contribute to Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.â€
- Imposes a freeze of funds and assets overseas of entities and people involved in Iran’s nuclear or ballistic missile program.
- Imposes a travel ban on people responsible for and involved in the program.
- Prohibits “specialized teaching or training of Iranian nationals†in disciplines that would contribute to Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
- Requests within 30 days after adoption a report from the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency on whether Iran has suspended its nuclear activities.
- Considers suspending the sanctions if Iran complies with the resolution but threatens to consider further unspecified measures if it does not.
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Georgia’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday it had protested to the United Nations about Russia’s crackdown on illegal Georgian migrants, demanding a stop to what it called “persecution on ethnic groundsâ€, AP reports.
The ministry said in a statement that it had turned over materials “on violation of Georgian citizens’ rights†to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and other international organizations.
Moscow responded to Georgia’s brief detention of four alleged Russian spies last month with a sweeping transport and postal blockade and a crackdown on Georgian migrants in Russia — sanctions the Kremlin has refused to drop despite Western calls for restraint.
Russia and Georgia have had a history of friction since they went their separate ways with the 1991 Soviet collapse. That tension increased after Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili came to power in 2004, pledging to bring separatist regions back into fold, bolster ties with the West and lead his nation to join NATO in 2008.
Georgian officials sharply criticized Russia’s tough actions, particularly the deportations of an estimated 800 ethnic Georgians allegedly caught working illegally in Russia and the harassment of Georgian-owned businesses.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that Russian authorities had requested schools and universities to provide lists of people with Georgian surnames as part of the continuing crackdown on Georgians in Russia.
It urged Russia “to stop persecutions on ethnic grounds, safeguard universally recognized human rights and freedoms and solve existing political problems through talks and constructive dialogue.â€
The ministry said Tuesday that Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili would visit Moscow for talks next week, the first high-level contact since the worst post-Soviet crisis in bilateral relations erupted last month.
Bezhuashvili talked with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov over the phone Tuesday and they agreed to meet in Moscow on Nov. 1-2 at the sidelines of a conference of Black Sea nations, the ministry said.
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Syria has done nothing to deserve international sanctions as it has cooperated with a UN probe into the killing of Lebanon’s former premier Rafiq Hariri, Russia’s foreign minister has said in an interview quoted by AFP.
“Frankly, I do not see what Syria could have done to deserve facing sanctions,†Sergei Lavrov told the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat on Tuesday.
“We believe that Syria is actively cooperating with the UN investigation in the (February 2005) assassination of Lebanon’s former PM Rafiq Hariri. International investigators visit Syria frequently, meet Syrian officials and present their reports to the UN security council,†he said.
“I have not heard any accusation of default against Syria,†in this regard, he told the London-based Arabic daily.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said late September the United States was hoping to convince its allies to back new sanctions against Syria in response to its purported role in destabilizing Lebanon and Iraq and supporting the radical Palestinian movement Hamas.
Lavrov also praised Syria for avoiding turning the July war between Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Israel into a regional conflict.
“Thank God that war did not turn into an all-out regional war … That did not happen because the Syrian leadership took a very responsible stand and avoided all that could have dragged Syria into the furnace of the military conflict,†the minister said.
Syria earned rare praise from U.S. President George W. Bush’s administration for thwarting an attack on its embassy in Damascus on September 12.
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