Rokovanie ministra zahraničných vecí RF S. Lavrova s ministrom zahraničných vecí SR M. Lajčákom

V Kaliningrade sa 6. júna 2017 uskutočnilo rokovanie ministrov zahraničných vecí Ruska a Slovenska. Nižšie publikujeme oficiálne informácie o rokovaní zverejnené slovenskou a ruskou stranou.

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Informácia o rokovaní MZVaEZ SR

Napriek súčasnej zložitej medzinárodnopolitickej situácií vnímame Rusko ako dôležitého hospodárskeho a obchodného partnera a máme záujem aj naďalej s ním rozvíjať ekonomickú spoluprácu. Vyplynulo to z dnešných (6. júna) rokovaní ministra zahraničných vecí a európskych záležitostí SR Miroslava Lajčáka s jeho ruským rezortným partnerom Sergejom Lavrovom v Kaliningrade. „Žijeme dnes v komplikovanom a nestabilnom bezpečnostnom prostredí. Rusko hrá dôležitú úlohu v otázke medzinárodnej bezpečnosti a stability. Dialóg s Ruskom preto považujeme za veľmi dôležitý. Sme diplomati, a viesť dialóg je našou prvoradou povinnosťou. Som rád, že sa nám darí pokračovať nielen v politickom dialógu, ale aj v oblasti obchodnej výmeny a ekonomickej spolupráce, kde máme konkrétne výsledky aj vďaka práci medzivládnej komisie, vrátane dohody o cyklotrónovom centre. Ako jednu z najväčších výziev do budúcnosti vidíme spoluprácu v oblasti energetiky, kde má Slovensko záujem o partnerstvo pri tranzite plynu s efektívnym využívaním existujúcej infraštruktúry prepravy ropy a plynu,“ povedal v rozhovore M. Lajčák.

Podľa ministra má Slovensko záujem rozvíjať pragmatické a konštruktívne vzťahy orientované na konkrétne výsledky. Ako ďalšie oblasti vyzdvihol obchod a investície, cestovný ruch, ako aj spoluprácu s regiónmi v Ruskej federácii. Rusko naďalej ostáva jedným z najdôležitejších obchodných a investičných partnerov SR mimo Európskej únie. M. Lajčák vyslovil nádej, že sa podarí zastaviť prepad vzájomnej obchodnej výmeny, a že rok 2017 bude z tohto pohľadu pozitívnejší (obrat obchodnej výmeny v roku 2016 klesol o 17,65 % v dôsledku sankcií EÚ, ale aj poklesu cien ropy a devalváciou kurzu rubľa). Medzivládnu komisiu pre hospodársku a vedecko-technickú spoluprácu vnímame ako vhodný nástroj na pokračovanie rozvoja hospodárskych vzťahov s Ruskou federáciou.

V energetickej oblasti M. Lajčák diskutoval so S. Lavrovom o plánoch Ruskej federácie vo vzťahu k zásobovaniu Európy ropou a plynom s výhľadom na dokončenie druhej vetvy tzv. Severného toku (Nord Stream 2), a prízvukoval, že by bolo v záujme všetkých zúčastnených strán naštartovať rokovania medzi Európskou úniou, Ruskou federáciou a Ukrajinou o uzatvorení dlhodobej zmluvy na tranzit plynu po roku 2019.

V druhej časti diskusie si ministri vymenili názory priority a očakávania od 72. Valného zhromaždenia OSN, pozornosť venovali otázkam reformných procesov s osobitnou pozornosťou na reformu mierových operácií, a diskutovali aj o príprave rozpočtu na roky 2018-2019. Ako M. Lajčák zdôraznil, jeho prioritou ako predsedu nadchádzajúceho VZ OSN bude dialóg, mediácia so zameraním na mier a preventívnu diplomaciu, ako aj vyvážený prístup ku všetkým trom pilierom práce OSN.

Minister M. Lajčák hovoril so Sergejom Lavrovom aj o ďalších zahraničnopolitických témach, vrátane Sýrie, Blízkeho východu a Ukrajiny. V posledne menovanej téme minister potvrdil konzistentný postoj Slovenska, založený na rešpektovaní medzinárodného práva, ktoré ako jediné môže poskytnúť základy pre trvalé a udržateľné diplomatické riešenie. Ministri sa zhodli, že plnenie Minských dohôd je naďalej jedinou cestou pri deeskalácii konfliktu na Donbase, avšak spomalenie implementačného procesu, časté ostreľovania a porušovania prímeria, ako aj pribúdajúce obete na životoch a zhoršovanie humanitárnej situácie obyvateľstva vytvárajú nepriaznivý obraz o reálnej hrozbe ďalšieho zmrazeného konfliktu v Európe.

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Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening remarks at talks with Slovak Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Miroslav Lajcak, Kaliningrad, June 6, 2017

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to media questions at a joint news conference following talks with Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic Miroslav Lajcak, Kaliningrad, June 6, 2017

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am pleased to welcome my Slovak colleague, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic Miroslav Lajcak, to Kaliningrad. This is his first time here. Hopefully, in addition to the business we need to attend to, Minister Lajcak will have the opportunity to see the numerous sights that this land and this beautiful city – Russia’s outpost in the Baltic region – have to offer. Today’s talks are a logical follow-up to our regular contacts, which we mentioned today. We highly appreciate the consistent nature of our dialogue. The talks were constructive.

Slovakia is an important partner for Russia in Europe. The political dialogue, including at the highest and the ministerial level, is developing dynamically. Our interparliamentary ties and contacts between relevant departments, including Russia’s Foreign Ministry, which regularly holds political consultations on a wide range of international issues at the level of deputy ministers and directors of departments, are getting stronger.

We actively supported the outcomes of the meeting of the Intergovernmental Russian-Slovak Commission on Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation held in Moscow last month, where about ten specific decisions were taken, which have given a significant boost to our economic and investment cooperation.

We noted the good prospects for expanding cooperation in the machine-building industry and the power sector, including nuclear power engineering, as well as exporting Russian energy resources to Slovakia and using its territory for transit. We focused on major infrastructure projects, which we consider not just a bilateral endeavour, but also promising projects which can seamlessly fit into a number of currently discussed initiatives to develop the Eurasian continent. I’m referring to Russia’s Greater Eurasian Partnership initiative and the One Belt – One Road initiative that was recently discussed in Beijing with the participation of the EU countries.

We have traditionally enjoyed rich cultural and educational exchanges. Russian culture and language continue to generate interest in Slovakia, and Slovak students are interested in receiving education in our country. Last year, Days of Russian Spiritual Culture were held with great success in Slovakia. This year, Days of Russian Cinema will be held there. I am confident that the Slovak public will enjoy them. Tourist numbers are on the rise. The number of Russians visiting Slovakia is growing.

We are grateful to our Slovak partners for the respect they have unfailingly shown for the burial sites of Soviet soldiers who fell on the battlefield during the liberation of Slovakia from Nazism. In general, we note Bratislava’s objective approach to assessing historical events, including World War II.

Now, I had the chance to personally congratulate Minister Lajcak on being elected Chairman of the 72^ndsession of the UN General Assembly, wished him success in this work, and reiterated our willingness to support his efforts to ensure the effective work of this universal forum. We will help strengthen the authority of the UN, and its ability to effectively perform its central coordinating role in international affairs.

Russia is cognizant of the need for the UN to adapt to changing conditions of the modern world, and we covered this issue in great detail today. The process of reform is ongoing, because rapid developments in the world call for constant changes on the part of the international community in terms of reacting to and directing these processes in a constructive way. New institutions and entities are being created, the agenda is constantly enriched and improved, and the peacekeeping activities are becoming more diverse. Unfortunately, the demand for the latter is growing. I said ‘unfortunately’ because this kind of demand is due to the increasing, rather than decreasing, number of conflicts and crises. We support these efforts to ensure an adequate response on behalf of the UN to international events, while believing that changes and reforms must be rooted in reality and should not be an end in themselves or a pretext for destroying key elements of the international architecture. It is critically important to preserve the democratic nature of decision-making at the UN General Assembly with the participation of all states.

We also regularly exchange views on key global issues, including those on the agenda of various UN bodies, such as the situation in the Middle East and North Africa, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan, and, of course, the situation on the Korean Peninsula. On all these issues, Russia and Slovakia are in favour of overcoming these crises through exclusively political and diplomatic means. We agree that it is necessary to consolidate the efforts of the international community to counter international terrorism and extremism.

Of course, we also discussed Ukraine. We share the opinion that the Minsk Package of Measures must be implemented in full and consistently. There are many obstacles on this path, most of which are artificial. We look forward to the Normandy format leaders reviewing these issues in detail in the near future and developing corresponding recommendations so that the Contact Group, with the participation of the Ukrainian government, Donetsk and Lugansk, could start implementing the steps outlined in the Minsk Agreements. We asked our European colleagues and the European Union – given the role of France and Germany in promoting the Normandy process – to use their influence with the Ukrainian leadership, which has so far been unwilling to comply with the political aspects of the Minsk accords.

Slovakia is a member of the European Union and NATO, but our relations with Bratislava, even during the crisis in relations between Russia and the West, have never been hostage to the confrontational approaches that certain members of the European Union and NATO are trying to promote and impose on everyone else. This suggests that there may be different situations, including ones that do not necessarily depend on a particular country. However, relying on properly understood national interests, one can find opportunities for concrete pragmatic cooperation that is useful for the countries and their people under all circumstances. In my opinion, this is how things are between us and our Slovak colleagues.

I thank Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic Miroslav Lajcak and his delegation for the productive talks.

Question: Could you comment on the conclusions published yesterday by the Bellingcat Investigation Team, which allegedly confirm that the Buk anti-aircraft missile system that downed the Boeing 777 in the skies over Ukraine in the summer of 2014 was part of Russia’s 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade?

Sergey Lavrov: I saw reports on the publication of certain conclusions by the Bellingcat Team. We do not know what specific documents and facts served as the basis for these conclusions. At any rate, what got into the press does not answer these questions.

I will recall a number of simple facts. Immediately after this tragedy Russia initiated the investigation that must be conducted in line with the Convention on International Civil Aviation by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), at least with its direct participation. We approved the UN Security Council resolution that called for an unbiased investigation in accordance with international standards and instructed the UN Secretary-General to report to the Security Council on the progress and results of the investigation. Since the resolution’s adoption in July 2014 the UN Security Council has not received a single report. A group of countries headed by the Netherlands undertook to organise the investigation. Indicatively, Malaysia, which owned the aircraft, was not even invited to join it. It became part of the group only half a year later when it became clear that it was embarrassing to conduct this work in a format that excluded Malaysians.

Let me recall that access to the disaster site was provided by the self-defence forces. Those who collected material evidence received everything they needed. Incidentally, the self-defence forces found the black boxes and transferred them safely to the investigators despite the very public airing of suspicions of manipulation. This was followed by many interesting events that do not quite fit in into the traditional rules for investigating such disasters. As it was determined later on, a considerable number of the aircraft’s fragments, personal belongings and even bodies were left unattended on the accident site. Investigators and monitors left the site. After a long break statements were made on the need to collect what was left there. All those who are watching this and sincerely seeking the truth know about this.

Also, Russia has repeatedly offered its professional services, including participation of the Almaz-Antey concern that manufactures Buk anti-aircraft missile launchers, since one of them is suspected of being used to down the aircraft. Our proposals that consisted of detailed calculations and a professional exposition got a very tepid reception. It is difficult for me to understand why unless the investigators were tasked beforehand with achieving a specific goal.

If I am not mistaken, last year our agencies presented data on primary radar surveillance, which were not subjected to analysis right away. There are many strange things in this process. I would prefer not to take at face value Bellingcat’s investigation just as I would not trust statements by the White Helmets on the Syrian crisis. There are many groups in the guise of civil society representatives that are mostly funded from well-known sources.

We do not see transparency, which is the main thing required in the investigation headed by the Netherlands.  We should be shown facts rather than conclusions that are now being used by the United States to prove the unprovable.

Question: Montenegro joined NATO on Monday, becoming the latest European member of the Alliance. Does this enlargement concern Moscow, especially given the fact that military exercises with a focus on rebuffing Russian aggression are being conducted throughout Europe?

Sergey Lavrov: We have already covered Montenegro being dragged into NATO. Our Western colleagues, primarily the United States and the leading EU countries, are obsessed with getting the Balkans on their side. The EU has plans in this regard. Talks are underway with Serbia, including Kosovo, as well as Macedonia and Montenegro. We do not and cannot have anything against these countries becoming part of European economic integration. This is a natural process since they form a single geographic and economic mechanism, a market, and a common economic space. We are all for it and hope that one day this economic space will include the rest of the Eurasian continent in accordance with the concept of the common economic space.

With regard to NATO, this organisation has lost the original justification for its existence after the socialist system, the Warsaw Pact, and the Soviet Union disappeared. However, the search for reasons that could justify its existence never stopped. The developments in Afghanistan came in handy. NATO went there on a mission bringing along tens, even hundreds of thousands of armed people, but, unfortunately, it didn’t help either to reduce the threat of terrorism or to weaken the drug trade. On the contrary, these threats escalated considerably, and it became clear that there was nothing more they could do there, because there was no way to earn any points there. Then the situation in Ukraine came along, which you are all aware of: a coup in violation of the agreement signed by the leading countries of Europe, and dumping all of it on Russia. Since then, Ukraine has been run by people who, in fact, are completely controlled by the ultra-radical elements who masterminded that coup. This came as another pretext to re-consolidate NATO, to invoke the Russian threat, and to proceed, on an unprecedented scale, to increase the military and military-technical presence of the North Atlantic Alliance at our borders. Eventually, this led to the need for them to create an image of the enemy in order to implement these plans. The activities of the Russia-NATO Council were frozen. Dialogue came to a standstill. Instead, there were demands, ultimatums, and groundless accusations. As part of this campaign, persistent appeals, exhortations, and demands to join the anti-Russian campaign were addressed to all the countries of the Balkan Peninsula, which have so far managed to retain their sovereignty. Some countries, such as Serbia and Macedonia, refused to do so. This hurt the NATO leaders’ feelings, and they will probably try to hit these countries back for their independent position. In Montenegro, these demands fell on fertile soil, not least because the Montenegrin leadership received a promise that their „run-ins“ with the law would be forgotten if they join NATO.

This is a purely geopolitical project which clearly doesn’t strengthen NATO security. It may lead to additional spending by NATO countries, since it will be necessary to develop the territory of Montenegro in the military-technical sense. It will not improve that country’s security by one iota, either, because Montenegro is not threatened and is unlikely to be ever threatened by anyone. The hysterical Russophobic voices, which come from Podgorica from time to time, can only elicit regret and, in the grand scheme, a smile.

NATO membership was imposed on Montenegro in exchange for its loyalty to the anti-Russian sanctions and politics. There is nothing more to say on this account. I believe that this trend will bring us back to the policy of dividing lines in Europe. It undermines numerous big promises by Western leaders about the need to ensure equal and indivisible security and, in fact, is a dead-end policy that does not bode well for anyone.

We are open to dialogue. We understand that despite all that we have to say about it, NATO is a reality, and we are willing to talk, but to do so on an equal basis and rely on concrete facts, comparing our respective capabilities and military activity. If we sit down and do an honest fact-check, everyone will see that NATO members are much more active in their military preparations, and they spend many times more money on them than Russia.

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Zdroje a ilustračné foto: 

• http://www.mzv.sk/aktuality/detail/-/asset_publisher/Iw1ppvnScIPx/content/m-lajcak-so-s-lavrovom-sme-diplomati-a-viest-dialog-je-nasou-prvoradou-povinnostou-?p_p_auth=quKXq64S&_101_INSTANCE_Iw1ppvnScIPx_redirect=%2F
• http://www.mid.ru/ru/press_service/minister_speeches/-/asset_publisher/7OvQR5KJWVmR/content/id/2776499?p_p_id=101_INSTANCE_7OvQR5KJWVmR&_101_INSTANCE_7OvQR5KJWVmR_languageId=en_GB
• http://www.mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/2776593?p_p_id=101_INSTANCE_cKNonkJE02Bw&_101_INSTANCE_cKNonkJE02Bw_languageId=en_GB