Contents tagged with Lavrov
-
Russia: US sanctions on Venezuelan state oil company illegal
Moscow has said that the sanctions imposed by Washington on PDVSA, the Venezuelan state-owned oil company, in an attempt to undermine Nicolas Maduro’s power, are illegal.
“The legitimate leadership of Venezuela has already described these sanctions as illegal. One can fully get behind this perspective,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
The US Treasury Department said that the measures against the Venezuelan state-owned oil company were adopted in order to “change the …
-
Russian delegation arrives in Israel to discuss Syrian-Iranian issue
A delegation from Moscow headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin and Russian President's Special Envoy Alexander Lavrentiev arrived in Israel.
They were received at the Israeli Foreign Ministry by the General Director of the diplomatic department Yuval Rotem. The Kremlin envoys are expected to meet with the Israeli Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Defense Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to Israeli sources, the parties will discuss "Syrian issues”.
As reported on the …
-
Pro-Iranian and pro-Russian forces clash in Syria
The Tiger Forces, an elite formation of the Syrian government army, have clashed with the 4th Armored Division, the Turkish Anadolu Agency reported, citing sources in Syria. According to the news agency, the Tiger Forces are backed by Russia, whereas the tank division, which is commanded by Bashar al-Assad’s brother General Maher al-Assad, is backed by Iran.
The encounter reportedly took place in Syria’s Hama province in the north-west of the country. Anadolu did not specify an exact date. …
-
Lavrov: Putin agreed to allow representatives of Germany and France to monitor the Kerch Strait
Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s request to send German and French observers to the Kerch Strait, stated Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Interfax-Ukraine reports.
"Chancellor Angela Merkel asked the President to allow German specialists to come to the region of the Kerch Strait over a month ago and to see how the navigation is done, taking into account that safety regulations should be observed... and President Putin agreed immediately,” …
-
Russian Foreign Minister rules out possibility of UN peacekeeping mission in Donbas
Commenting on the differences between Russia and the West’s approaches to the peacekeeping mission, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a press conference on Wednesday that no UN peacekeeping mission will be sent to the Donbas in the form that Ukraine wants to see.
“When the OSCE observers’ mission began to experience safety problems – there were incidents, one mission member was killed – in response to the alarm from Germany and France, we proposed to arm the observers with light …
-
Lavrov outraged by Abe's statements about US involvement in the peace treaty between Russian and Japan
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that statements by the Adviser to the Prime Minister of Japan about US interest in the negotiations in Moscow and Tokyo on a peace treaty were outrageous, Interfax reports.
“As for the statement by the Assistant Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, Prime Minister Abe, that the US should be interested in concluding an agreement between Russia and Japan, since this will, as he described it, strengthen the bloc [of countries] which would …
-
Lavrov: Russia will not give the Kuril Islands to Japan
After the meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the Kuril Islands are and will remain Russia’s territory.
“The sovereignty over the islands is non-negotiable. We drew attention to the fact these islands are designated as a northern territory in Japan’s legislation, which is, of course, unacceptable,” Lavrov said.
He pointed out that no peace agreement can be concluded if Japan does not recognize the results of World War II.
“I …
-
Kremlin surprised that Japan decided to conduct a closed press conference after talks with Lavrov
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs official spokeswoman Maria Zakharova reported in an interview on the “Sunday evening” program on television channel Russia-1 on Sunday, that the Japanese side plans to organize a closed briefing, scheduled for Monday, after talks between the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono.
“This morning, Japanese diplomats sent out invitations to various media representatives on a closed briefing for tomorrow evening,” said …
-
Russia threatens to retaliate if US deploys missiles in Europe
Russia will respond if the US deploys nuclear missiles which are prohibited by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in Europe, warned Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, as reported by Interfax.
Lavrov said he “regrets European countries’ refusal to support the preservation of the treaty”.
“Our European colleagues… are not yet ready and follow the US even in cases where it clearly goes against their own interests,” he remarked.
“All of the EU voted against our proposal [ …
-
Russian ambassador to the US: there are no regular contacts between Lavrov and Pompeo
During a press briefing, speaking about the relationship between Moscow and Washington, the Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov stated that there are no regular contacts between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo.
“Regular contact between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo is not working out, admitted the diplomat. Our proposal for the resumption of the practice of joint meetings between the …