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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on NATO-Russia relations, December 7, 2007

Press conference by Sergey Lavrov, Foreign Minister of Russia following the meeting of the NATO-Russia Council at the level of Foreign Ministers, December 7, 2007.

...it doesn't hinder our dialogue and our ambition is to expand all that in the future. So the main aim is to work, to work together on the basis of mutual respect, especially in the analysis, common analysis of those threats and risks, which are common.

This year, this last year, has been very full of events, organized under the aegis of the NRC. In Moscow and St. Petersburg we had a meeting of the NRC. We had a political science conference as well, and I think that the Council will remain a very important mechanism, or instrument, for stability and security and I hope that we will be able to extend its powers.

I hope very much that the NRC will be taking onboard a lot of different factors and the last point which I brought up at the meeting was the evolution of NATO. It's not quite clear yet exactly how that will evolve and how it will link up with international law and the UN Charter on Security and so on and so forth. But in parallel with this transformation .. and NATO is going to make that one of the major plans at its Bucharest Summit and we wouldn't like the projects from some kind of political past to become a reality.

I absolutely do not think that this strengthens our political stability. And we hope very much that it will not be create dividing lines or create any problems within states.

We don't fully understand the activities of the Alliance in many areas, particularly on our borders, particularly the strengthening of infrastructure in the Balkans, in Eastern Europe, Romania and Bulgaria, for example, but I speculate frankly to our partners about that today and of course then there's the whole question of conventional forces in Europe, the control of armaments as well, and it must be said that in the last couple of years we have deadlocked on that one. So what we have to do is to make sure that the CFE Treaty is complied with and that is essentially, because it was not being complied with that Russia suspended its participation in it on the 12th of December. That will happen by President Putin.

We have had very interesting and useful consultations on CFE though. If you take onboard all the kinds of questions involved then I think that what we have to do is to aim at revitalizing that treaty, but there are lots of other factors at stake.

The 12th of December is not going to be a deadline for anything at all. We will continue to negotiate. And we hope some kind of common agreement will be reached and our concerns will be taken onboard and we hope that it will not be an absurd piece of theatre, but will be realistic.

And we also talked about the U.S. plans for the missile shield in Europe, and obviously we are forced willy-nilly to bear witness to conversations and talks about this dislocation and the linkup with the MD NATO system. Because what you have to know also is that Russia and NATO are collaborating on a TMD system and we want to avoid the situation whereby NATO has its own and one with Russia and one with the States. But if it's a multilateral one then obviously that would be a much better idea and we want to pull out of it, though, if it's not going to multilateral.

There are quite a number of examples of very good solid work being undertaken under the cooperation arrangements between NATO and Russia and all this is in enshrined, of course, in the Sophia recommendations of 2006. I think that 2007 really has been quite successful and I think that many of the recommendations of the Sophia document have been realized. I think that we can say that some considerable progress has been obtained. If not then certainly we've made a beginning and Russia is prepared to play its contribution there.

I think that on the question of drug trafficking and this, of course, we have to tackle together through concerted efforts and we have to make sure that the personnel in Afghanistan and Central Asian countries are strengthened and we have to make sure also that they are technically equipped for ensuring security. The ANA is also very important in terms of stability in Afghanistan. We hope very much that we'll be able to find some kind of a mutually acceptable way forward here.

You know our position of Kosovo. We talked about this as well. We are only for a solution which would be acceptable for both sides, for Belgrade and Pristina, and only for government bodies which would be fully empowered to ensure security.

So let's have questions now.

Q: May I ask in English, I understand Russian, but I don't speak that well. Minister Lavrov, what will be the Russian reaction to a unilateral declaration of independence should that case occurs?

Lavrov: Our reaction will be based on international law and I very much hope that all the other members of the international community will proceed on that basis too.

Q: Minister you met just before the meeting with your Polish counterpart. I would like to ask you about your expectations. I would like to ask you also about one thing: have you brought any offer to Brussels today for Poles and how about the possibility of lifting the embargo? Thank you.

Lavrov: Offer to Brussels?

Q: For your Polish counterpart. Is their any possibility of lifting the embargo?

Lavrov: Which one?

Q: On Polish meat.

Lavrov: I thought CFE. Well, we are actually going to have a meeting with Mr. Sikorski. We got to know each other in Annapolis, where we were having a talk on the Middle East and we are going to have talks to try and get normal relations with Poland, get a regular kind of schedule of meetings.

But with regard to the question of these veterinary problems which have arisen, the specialists of both countries are in contact, they're working very hard together. We know of the interests, of the concerns of the meat producers in Poland. We know that they are talking to us and I think we're on the right track.

Q: I come from Tunisia. I have two questions, please. At Annapolis Russia asked us to hold a meeting for the Middle East peace process. I'd like to ask about anything you know about this, how to implement what has been achieved in Annapolis to put an end, or try to put an end and get out of this crisis.

The second one about Russia position towards the Iran crisis, especially after the CIA report this week. Thank you.

Lavrov: As far as Annapolis is concerned, then the main point I think here is the compliance with the commitments by all sides in the declaration and the continual keeping an eye on this whole issue by the international community as a whole. And of course it would also be very important that this process should not get bogged down. And we talk about all the kind of possibilities which would be enacted for setting up a Palestinian state, and we hope very much that that message got through and will do in 2008.

As far as the future international follow-through of the Middle East crisis or settlement is concerned, that certainly was on the agenda in Annapolis. Syrian-Israeli relations were discussed and obviously at future stages these questions and issues must be followed through. And of course, the main point here is to try and revitalize negotiations between Israel and Syria about the Golan Heights, and also a regularization of the relations between Israel and Iran.

The main problems are, of course, in terms of making sure that there is Palestinian unity. I heard Abbas this morning confirming once again that there is no question of making of Palestine some kind of temporary authority, and from that point of view obviously the creation of a Palestinian unity is of a particular significance.

We hope for that and we hope that we will be able to make the contribution to that, together with other Arab countries.

Many colleagues this morning who took part in the Annapolis meeting, spoke of that this morning and we very much hope that they will prepare this way forward, making sure that each step is properly thought through and that we should avoid any further Israeli-Arab aggression. And what we want is an Arab-Israel settlement.

And I think you asked me about something else, did you not? Iran, yes. On Iran we are one of the well respected members of the sextet: Russian, China, Iran and the EU, which has worked out its own approach to the Iranian nuclear question already in 2005. This position is under review. It's working on two tracks. Negotiations with IAEA and the engagement of other security organizations in order to help IAEA to solve all the questions to do with the previous nuclear Iranian program.

We hope very much that there is no military element in it and I think that what UNA has said fully confirms what information we have; that is to say there is no military element in their nuclear program. We hope very much these negotiations with Iran will continue. So it's a two track process helping IAEA and working through the sextet. And we believe that all these efforts should have an impact on the situation depending to some extent, of course, on the negotiations between Iran and IAEA.

We hope very much that Iran should become an active participant in the IAEA and should be a fully fledged member.

Q: Thank you very much for the question, the possibility of asking a question. Russia has already said that southern Ossetia and Abkhazia might have intentions to join the Russian Federation. Don't you think this is an aggressive move to do with separatism. Also connected with the fact that Georgia wishes to become a member of NATO.

Lavrov: Neither the president of the Russian Federation nor the Ministry of Foreign Minister has ever made such a statement. I've never wanted to actually cite your policy. I've never known such words. But if you ask me about how the Kosovo crisis is going to be settled, if it's settled the way we think it's going to be settled, then it will be a precedent.

And Western Allies say that there won't be a precedent but it's just going to happen, so how the Kosovo crisis is going to evolve is being looked at by a lot of other countries, and not only countries in the Balkans, countries in other areas of the world.

So this has to do with the UN Charter, with international law, with the Helsinki Final Act, and anybody who goes in contravention of those is on a very slippery downward slope and it certainly won't help the stability of Europe, although it is precisely stability which is being cited by those in favour of UDI of Kosovo.

But we are absolutely convinced that the troika of negotiators will be having very useful negotiations. They've begun. Belgrade has been very, very constructive and flexible in its proposals on almost virtually every question. And Belgrade says that there is a real possibility of agreeing, but it all depends on how Pristina is going to react.

I should just like to urge, once again, everybody who talks publicly about the possibility of independence, of course, not to camouflage that discussion in some kind of dishonest way. All the factors have to be taken into account.

Thank you very much.

Source: NATO, www.nato.int.

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