Only Way For Ukraine To Reach Settlement Is To Sign Federal Agreement, Says Lavrov

Russia believes that the only way for Ukraine to reach a settlement is to sign a federal agreement, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with the anchor of the News on Saturday with Sergei Brilev TV programme earlier today. “The current developments in Ukraine have resulted from a deep statehood crisis, triggered, among other things, by the inability (I’d hate to think of reluctance) of every next leader coming to power to reconcile the interests of Ukraine’s western region and Ukraine’s South-East”, the Russian Foreign Minister said. “This cannot continue that way anymore”.

“We are certain that Ukraine needs a profound constitutional reform. In all fairness, we can’t see any other way to ensure a stable development of Ukraine but signing a federal agreement”, Lavrov said.

The West is no longer dismissing Russia’s arguments that Ukraine should become a federation through a constitutional reform, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

“I can say that ‘federation’ is no longer a taboo word in our negotiations. I am sure we should insist on this not just because we want this but because this is a demand by the southern and eastern regions [of Ukraine],” Lavrov said.

The West has taken heed of Moscow’s arguments in favor of Ukraine’s federalization and the second official language, and Russia expects that Kyiv will be informed of these ideas through Western partners, Lavrov said.

“This is actually the only thing I hope for, because the current Ukrainian government can hardly be suspected of independence,” Lavrov said sarcastically.

 

 

Western media hush up some facts about Right Sector speaking about Ukraine – Russia’s Lavrov

While covering the events in Ukraine, Western media conceal some facts about the Right Sector, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, has stated. Lavrov noted that he had for more than a month posed a question of the Right Sector and the need to distance from the radicals to the Western partners.

West’s calls on Russia to change position on Crimea are “diplomatic impudence“

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov sees the West’s demand that Moscow change its position regarding Crimea’s reintegration with Russia as absolutely hopeless.

“You may substantially disagree with the way we see the situation, and you may not accept the Russian Federation’s decisions that were made in response to the Crimeans’ will and were supported by an astounding majority of the population. We understand this position, life is life,” Lavrov said in an interview shown in an analytical program hosted by Sergei Brilyov on Rossiya-1 TV channel on Saturday.

“But not understanding real politics and absolute hopelessness of demands addressed to us at the moment when we said that we would accept any decision by the Crimeans after they express their will and telling us: ‘Okay, despite what the president said, let’s put it down that a mission will go to Ukraine including Crimea’ – this is diplomatic impudence or absolute diplomatic inadequacy,” he said.

Russia holding talks with some countries so that it ships could call at their ports for minor maintenance

Russia is holding negotiations with several countries so that Russian ships could call at their ports for servicing and minor maintenance, but Russia is not considering the establishment of new naval bases abroad, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

“We are holding negotiations with some countries that our ships and naval vessels could use their infrastructure for calling at their ports, servicing, minor maintenance, replenishing food and water stocks, and the crews’ rest. There is absolutely no talk about building bases similar to the American ones,” Lavrov said in an interview shown in an analytical program hosted by Sergei Brilyov on Rossiya-1 TV channel on Saturday.

Russia’s, West’s approaches toward settling Ukraine crisis converging

Interaction between Moscow, Western countries and Kiev to settle the crisis in Ukraine is becoming more tangible, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

“Anyway, we are bringing our approaches closer together. My last meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry in The Hague and my contacts with Germany, France and some other countries show that a possible joint initiative that could be offered to our Ukrainian partners is taking shape,” Lavrov said in an interview shown in an analytical program hosted by Sergei Brilyov on Rossiya-1 TV channel on Saturday.

“This is a very important detail, because our partners have so far proposed setting up some contact group in which Russia and those who have seized power in Kiev would negotiate under their supervision. This would be an absolutely unacceptable format, and we are not talking about this,” he said.

Russia has no plans to create mil bases abroad like those of US

Russia has no plans to create naval and military bases abroad like American facilities, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview on Saturday News with Sergei Brilyov on Russian television.

Commenting on reports that Russia allegedly planned to open bases on the Seashells, in Vietnam, Nicaragua, Cuba and Argentina, Lavrov said “It is not true at all. We have no plans to create naval and military bases abroad in the meaning you understand the term.”

“The Navy has strengthened significantly in Russia, and I think, after the joining of Crimea to Russia, it will have much more potentialities for development,” he noted. Aside from the Black Sea Fleet, we have the Far Eastern, Northern and other fleets,” he said. “It is very important for the state to have the navy on the highest level of training, especially when the fleet has not only to cross oceans for training, but carry out specific tasks to fight piracy in the Gulf of Aden. Pirates appear in other parts of the world ocean. The fleet makes long trips.”

“We have agreed with some countries for our vessels and naval ships to use their existing infrastructure for calls, service, minor repair, replenishment of food and water reserves and rest of crews,” Lavrov explained. “Construction of bases like American ones is out of the question. Any agreements like those concluded by Americans to ensure immunity for their servicemen from crimes in the country of their presence are also out of the question,” he noted.

“By the way, I saw an interesting picture in the Internet the Russian Federation and red dots indicating locations of American military bases around it,” he said. “It is impressive. They number more than a hundred. And an American serviceman phrase there ‘How does Russia dare to settle so close to our bases?’.”

In reply to the question whether the mentioned countries were among those to negotiate with about calls of ships, Lavrov said “There are several such countries, but these are issues to be considered by military departments.

Russia has no plans to cross Ukraine’s borders

Russia has no plans to cross Ukraine’s borders, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

“We have absolutely no intention of and interest in crossing Ukraine’s borders. The only thing we really want is that the work should be collective and the lawlessness that some Western countries are trying to sweep under the rug and paint the situation in bright colors should be stopped, so that they realize their responsibility,” Lavrov said in an interview shown in an analytical program hosted by Sergei Brilyov on Rossiya-1 TV channel on Saturday.

Source: The Voice Of Russia

R.Sawas