The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation has released a speach of Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova. A briefing took place in Moscow, December 16, 2015.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation has released a speach of Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova. A briefing took place in Moscow, December 16, 2015.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s meeting with a French parliamentary delegation
On December 17, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will meet in Moscow with a delegation of French members of parliament led by Thierry Mariani, a deputy of the French National Assembly and co-chair of the French-Russian Dialogue Association.
The meeting will address ways of building up interaction between Russia and France in dealing with pressing international issues, as well as bilateral cooperation.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to New York
In the afternoon of December 17, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will fly to New York to attend a meeting of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) and other events at the UN devoted to the political settlement in Syria.
Yesterday, Mr Lavrov noted that “Russia supports the idea of holding a regular ISSG meeting on December 18 in New York at the ministerial level. We expect that as a result of this meeting, with the consent of all members, an agreement will be reached to submit for the UN Security Council’s consideration a draft resolution that would reaffirm the principles laid down in the Vienna documents – the Vienna statements of October 30 and November 14, 2015.”
We will keep you up to date on the Minister’s working schedule in New York, which is currently being finalised, and the results of the meetings.
Results of a Ukraine Contact Group meeting
On February 15, a meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine took place. It addressed the entire range of issues on the agenda, including security, political and humanitarian issues, among others.
As additional information arrives, we will provide detailed coverage of the event. At this stage, we will analyse the general outcome of the meeting. I can say at this point that new mine-disposal agreements were reached and the proposal for a full ceasefire during the New Year holidays was endorsed. The Contact Group will hold another meeting before the end of the year (an agreement to that effect was also reached).
Unfortunately, the discussion of political issues again highlighted serious disagreements between the parties. In this case, we note Kiev’s unconstructive position.
