Wrap: Lavrov hails N.Korea decision, highlights Mideast concerns
16/07/2006 14:39 ST. PETERSBURG, July 16 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's foreign minister gave his support Sunday to a UN Security Council resolution on North Korea, backed UN discussions on Iran, and pledged to use all available means to calm the Israeli-Lebanese conflict.
Sergei Lavrov told a news conference on the sidelines of the Group of Eight summit, underway near St. Petersburg, that the UN resolution demonstrated the world's desire to make North Korea reinstate its moratorium on missile launches and resume talks on its nuclear program.
Lavrov said: "The UN Security Council's resolution is balanced, and demonstrates to Pyongyang that the international community is united, and does not want the situation to go into deadlock; it also urges North Korea to reinstate its moratorium on missile launches, and to resume six-nation talks."
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution Saturday barring imports or exports to North Korea of materials that could be used in the production of weapons of mass destruction. It also calls on the reclusive communist state to resume six-nation nuclear talks, which have been in a state of deadlock since September.
The move came after North Korea test-launched seven missiles including a long-range Taepodong-2 in the Pacific last week.
Lavrov said the leaders of the world's most developed nations could back the resolution, which had been adopted unanimously, and would add weight to the Security Council's decision with respect to North Korea.
"I believe members of the G8 would support a resolution adding authority to the appeal to North Korea," he said.
Following the new wave of violence in the Middle East, the Russian foreign minister said the abduction of two Israeli soldiers by Hizbollah Wednesday could have been designed, among other things, to frustrate dialogue within Lebanon, and added he did not rule out further provocations in the conflict zone.
Israel launched a military operation in Lebanon after the abduction of its soldiers, air-raiding Lebanon's infrastructure facilities, while also bombing the Gaza Strip.
Lavrov said a 2004 UN Security Council resolution had envisioned Hizbollah's involvement in political activities in Lebanon, and that Russia had welcomed the decision.
"This was in line with Security Council decisions. But somebody must not have liked it," the minister said.
"We must use all means available to prevent the situation from deteriorating further, and stop the destruction of Lebanon's infrastructure. I discussed this with the Lebanese prime minister on the telephone recently," Lavrov said.
Russia and most European countries have condemned Hizbollah's hostage taking as a means of resolving problems, and accused Israel of excessive use of force in response to these actions.
The United States, Israel's traditional supporter, has urged Hizbollah to end their attacks, and demanded that Syria put pressure on Hizbollah, and force it to stop violence in the Middle East.
Over 100 Lebanese civilians have been reported killed and 200 wounded in the last few days in clashes in the region.
At least eight Israelis were killed and 17 wounded in Haifa, Israel's third largest city, as Hizbollah continued its missile attacks on Sunday, bringing the civilian death toll to 13 people.
Haifa, where Russia has a consulate general in Israel, is located 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the Lebanese border. Israel's military have claimed Hizbollah used Iranian-supplied long-range missiles for the attack.
Sergei Lavrov also said the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the root cause of the resurgence of violence in the Middle East.
"The main cause of developments in Palestinian-administered territories, in southern Lebanon, in Israel, and in adjacent lands is rooted in the unresolved Israeli-Palestinian conflict," the minister said.
Lavrov said G8 leaders and officials were continuing to discuss possible solutions to the crisis.
Speaking about another Middle East country, engaged in a long-running international dispute over its nuclear ambitions, Lavrov said he hoped Iran would soon resume discussions on proposals made by the five permanent Security Council members and Germany.
France, Germany, Britain, Russia, China, and the United States had drafted a package of incentives for Iran in a bid to persuade it to halt uranium enrichment, which can be used in nuclear weapons production.
"I believe Iranian leaders will in the long run respond to the proposals, which remain on the table, and we will be able to start, on their basis, specific talks on issues set out by the Iran-6, which are very attractive for Iran in terms of the development of its economy and energy, including civilian nuclear power," Lavrov told reporters.
But he said the Islamic Republic's failure so far to respond to the incentives was regrettable.
Iran's nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani met with European foreign policy chief Javier Solana in mid-June, but did not give an answer to the proposals, saying his country needed more time to study the package.
This prompted the Iran-6 countries to again consider referring Tehran's "nuclear file" to the UN Security Council, which has authority to impose sanctions and other punitive measures.
"Under the circumstances, we believe that work on a draft resolution [on Iran] will resume in the UN Security Council shortly," Lavrov said, adding the discussions on the resolution had been frozen in April in hopes it would help Tehran study the proposals.
On Saturday, the presidents of Russia and the United States, Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush, issued a joint statement before the G8 summit urging for discussions on Iran's nuclear problem at the UN Security Council to be resumed.
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