MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Lavrov on Tuesday gave a press conference on the results of 2016, focusing on the fight against terrorism and bilateral relations with the United States.
Spy Games
Lavrov recounted several instances where Russian diplomats have been pressured by US intelligence services. He noted the growth of active attempts to recruit Russian diplomats over the past years, including an April 2016 incident in Washington involving a Russian Embassy minister counselor.
"We have not made public the full statistics on this matter. But recently, in the past few years and especially during Obama’s second stint, the number of such unfriendly actions directed at our diplomats have grown," Lavrov said.
Russian foreign minister added that US diplomats were crisscrossing Russia to participate in opposition protests.
"They have been traveling back and forth. Apart from espionage, US Embassy diplomats have been spotted many times at demonstrations organized by our opposition, at anti-government rallies, at unauthorized rallies, including in disguise," Lavrov said.
Russia rejects allegations that US diplomats are harassed and monitored in Moscow, the minister stressed.
"In the period of the Obama administration, we received complaints that the US embassy here is working in intolerable conditions, there is surveillance, the ambassador has been pulled the plug on, he is not accepted in any Russian institutions. We have specifically dealt with this situation, it turned out to be exactly the opposite," Lavrov said.
Russia-US Ties
Lavrov said that Moscow was realistic when it comes to expectations from the US President-elect Donald Trump administration and there was no need to go to extremes.
"We are realists, we follow, of course, the new US administration's preparation for assuming office. I would not go to extremes: at the moment there are a lot of forecasts, speculations in the media and in the political science community, some are delighted, and some say that nothing will change. There is absolutely no point in talking about this now," Lavrov told the press conference.
He added that the nature of relations between the United States and the rest of the world would only be clear when the new administration started its work.
"When we hear that Donald Trump regards combating terrorism the top priority of his foreign policy, of course, we can only welcome this decision, because this is what our US partners have so far lacked," Lavrov told reporters.
"We heard Donald Trump and his team say they will approach it differently and avoid double standards instead of using them to pursue goals," the minister went on to say.
He denied that Russia and the United States had any contacts on the issue of preparation of a high-level summit in Reykjavik,
On Sunday, the Sunday Times newspaper reported that Trump was planning to hold a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Reykjavik, Iceland, which would also be the first Trump's foreign trip after assuming the office.
"[This information] is not true. There have been no contacts to discuss such plans," Lavrov told a press conference.
"We will be ready as soon as the US administration takes office and prepares itself to meet, to talk business, feeling the responsibility before the people of our countries and the people of the rest of the world," Lavrov told a press conference.
The minister said that Moscow did not believe Trump was attempting to link the lifting of anti-Russia sanctions with nuclear arms reduction agreement.
"I, as you know, do not want, and have no right to interpret what Donald Trump said in an interview but I heard in this phrase… a slightly different meaning than most observers and commentators. He said the following, as closely as possible to the text, as I heard it: that he will think about what to do with the sanctions, it was one part of the sentence. The second part reads something like that: if one can work on universally useful matters with Russia, one then must find a way out of this situation. And the third part reads that, well, among the useful things, of course, I, Donald Trump, see further steps in nuclear disarmament. I do not see here offers to disarm in exchange for the lifting of sanctions," Lavrov told reporters.
He noted that the outgoing US President Barack Obama’s administration had made "undignified" attempts to hinder the normalization of relations between Moscow and Tokyo.
"We know about the pressure put on Japan by the outgoing US administration. They have tried to undermine the prospects of normal ties [between Russia and Japan] in order to make the Japanese leadership refrain from communication with the Russian president. And to belittle the format of the contacts, if [the Japanese side] decides to communicate," Lavrov told a press conference.
He added that the outgoing US administration was taking "undignified" steps, abusing their relations with Japan.
Military Force Against Terror
Lavrov said that Moscow was concerned about the fact that the international community was still unable to create a united front against terrorism.
"Of course this causes serious concern and regret. Why is this happening? There may be many reasons. We see that the problem of forming common ranks to fight terrorism, organized crime, drug trafficking, many other threats, this problem is becoming systemic," Lavrov said at a press briefing.
The Russian president voiced a proposal to create an international coalition against terrorism in a September 2015 address at the UN General Assembly.
"It is quite possible to breathe new life into these mechanisms, considering that the new US administration claims it aims to combat terrorism for real," Lavrov told reporters.
He said Moscow thought it would be a step in the right direction to invite the United States and the United Nations to Syria peace talks in Astana, Kazakhstan.
"This would be the first official contact that could pave the way for talks on how to make the fight against terrorism in Syria more efficient," Lavrov said, adding Moscow and Washington had the experience of co-chairing the International Syria Support Group (ISSG).
Lavrov stressed that any of the existing armed groups in Syria may join the ceasefire agreement and become full-fledged participants of the peace process.
“We believe that field commanders should become full-fledged members of this process, I think, it should not be limited only by those specific groups that signed a ceasefire agreement on December 29, any other armed groups wishing to join these agreements, should have such an opportunity,” Lavrov said at a press conference.
The minister added that there were a number of militants wishing to join the ceasefire.
He also said that only Syrian citizens themselves could decide on the matter of federalization of their country within a “comprehensive and inclusive dialogue with participation of all confessional and political groups of the country".
"We are sure that we took the right decision when we responded positively to a request of the legitimate government of Syria, a UN member state, the country whose capital was two-three weeks away from being taken over by terrorists. And I think it is very important that we managed to repel terrorists from Damascus and help the Syrian army liberate Aleppo," Lavrov told a press conference.
Finally, he concluded that the war in Syria and other regional countries can be stopped primarily by force.
"You see, the war may be stopped and the rights of Christians, Muslims and other people who have lived all their life in Syria, in other regional countries, may be ensured first of all through the use of force, because it is necessary to beat terrorism ruthlessly and beat it completely. That is what we are doing, helping the Syrian army and the militia, who jointly with the Syrian army are involved in the fight against terrorism," Lavrov told reporters.
Syrian government and opposition factions are supposed to meet in Kazakhstan’s capital of Astana on January 23 for talks brokered by Russia, Turkey and Iran. They will be followed by a UN-spearheaded meeting in Geneva on February 8.
