West recognized Maidan; more reason to recognize Crimea's reunion with Russia – Lavrov
30 March 2014, 15:54 -- Since the West recognized 'Maidan', it is simply bound to recognize Crimea's reunification with Russia as a reality, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the national 'Channel One' television channel.
'I regret to say that this is, as I see it, a deliberate stance [that the West ignores the crimes committed by 'maidan']. Right at the beginning of those November events, when after the absolutely legitimate decision of the incumbent Ukrainian president to put off, not cancel, the signing of an agreement with the European Union, 'maidan' protest erupted and, very quickly, militants from the Right Sector and other radical groups moved in. We cautioned Western countries against encouraging those processes. Their response was pretty vague, that those were the legal manifestations of the civil position of the people. Back then it was already clear that they [the processes] were turning downright anti-constitutional and anti-government in nature'.
'Later it all shaped into a coup d'etat, staged literally within 24 hours after President Yanukovych and the opposition signed an agreement in the presence of the foreign ministers of three European Union countries. Then they immediately declared that a revolution had taken place and that a new reality had to be recognized'.
'Without comparing the legitimacy of what happened in Maidan and in Crimea and I am convinced that the former is illegitimate and the latter is the freely expressed choice of the people with such a huge percentage of voters supporting reunification with Russia that there is no disputing its legitimacy, or going into the essence of the matter, it would still be wrong to say that the maidan events are a reality and the events in Crimea cannot be recognized as reality. From a diplomatic viewpoint, that doesn't hold water,' Lavrov concluded.
Russia 'had no other choice' than to accept Crimea – Lavrov
Russia did not give much thought to what the Western reaction would be when it accepted Crimea's bid for re-unification, because it had no other choice, Russia's foreign chief Sergei Lavrov said on a Channel One TV show. 'We didn't bother reflecting about what the reaction would be,' Mr. Lavrov said. 'We had no other choice. The choice we eventually made came from our history, international law, Russian statehood and our responsibility for the lives of those ethnic Russians who found themselves stranded abroad in a single day'.
He said the decision to give historically Russian-majority Crimea to Ukraine was not made in compliance with international law.
He recalled the 1991 Belavezha Accords that finalized the decision to dissolve the Soviet Union and fix the borders of its member states. The deal was signed at a meeting in the Belarusian part of the Belavezha reserve by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.
'Everyone knows how those Belavezha accords were negotiated and how every advocate of today's international laws applauded them. No one ever doubted their legitimacy back then,' Lavrov noted.
Ukraine needs new constitution, 'cosmetic' changes won't do – Lavrov
Ukraine needs to draft a new main law during a constitutional reform, rather than fine-tuning the old one, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday.
He recalled how, meeting with Ukraine's Acting Foreign Minister Andrei Deshchitsa in the Hague on March 24, he asked him to explain what precisely the Verkhovna Rada had been doing within the framework of constitutional reform. The latter replied that a special commission had been formed to fine-tune the 2004 Constitution, which is currently in effect.
'I don't think that cosmetic changes will do here,' Lavrov said.
Russia military drills on Ukraine border complied with OSCE standards – Lavrov
The recent military exercises by Russian troops on the western border with Ukraine met all criteria set by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Russia's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov said on a TV show on Sunday.
The minister said Russia had duly informed foreign watchdogs about the upcoming drills and gave inspectors, including those from the US and Ukraine, access to the camps.
According to Lavrov, reports that were penned by inspectors in the wake of the war games cited no indications that the movement of Russian troops near the border represented a threat to Ukraine.
West plotted to split Ukraine from Russia for years - Lavrov
For years, the West has been setting the scene to pull Ukraine and Russia apart, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on a Sunday show on the Channel One TV station. 'It feels as though our Western colleagues… have long been working to 'tear' Ukraine away from Russia. Once they realized they had been wrong and it had been a mistake to act in violation of all post-Soviet agreements, they couldn't own up to it. A false idea of pride stood in their way,' Lavrov suggested.
'And all the sanctions we are seeing now are a knee-jerk reflex that makes them want to find a reasonable way to remedy their hurt feelings.'
The Russian foreign policy chief said that in closed-door talks, his Western partners had more than once asked him to put himself in their place because 'Western society cannot put up with these events'.
Lavrov said that in tete-a-tete meetings Western mediators had confessed they sympathized with Russia but had to put on a bold face and show how united they were.
Russia's senior diplomat noted that it was something from the previous era when blocs were fighting against blocs and strategic partners united against a common adversary. It was a game of 'either or,' 'you are either with us or against us'.
'We have long since given that up but unfortunately this kind of mentality is still there in the minds of politicians who today define the West's stance'.
Moscow isn't indifferent to Western sanctions, but sees little drama in them - Lavrov
Moscow is not indifferent to sanctions introduced against Russia by the United States and European Union have, but does not see too much drama in them.
'I am not saying that the sanctions are laughable, or that we don't care. They are unpleasant but one can see at first glance that these sanctions target individual people and aim to sting,' Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with the Voskresnoye Vremya news program on Russia's Channel One.
'This is not particularly enjoyable but we are not experiencing too much pain, either. We have had more dramatic times before,' Lavrov said.
Kiev should be first to take step towards resolving crisis in Ukraine - Lavrov
Russia is ready for the widest possible cooperation on finding a settlement of the crisis in Ukraine, but the first step along that path should be taken by the Ukrainian side, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russia's Channel One television on Sunday.
'The Ukrainian authorities should be the first to step forward, stretch out a hand to the entire Ukrainian people and to all the regions, and invite them to engage in an equal and open dialogue on their country's future. We will be fully ready to cooperate closely on that path,' Lavrov said.
He criticized the proposed format for a contact group on Ukraine, in which Moscow and Kiev are supposed to work their way towards agreement under Western supervision.
It's the wrong format, Lavrov said. 'We favor a different approach. If our Western partners are ready, then Russia and the United States could form a support group on Ukraine and formulate common calls to those now ruling in Kiev to initiate nationwide dialogue and invite all the political forces – naturally not the armed radicals – and all the regions to engage in equal talks,' Lavrov said.
Russia claims evidence that Right Sector was behind sniper attacks in Kiev – Lavrov
Moscow says it has evidence suggesting that Ukraine's ultra-right militia organization, the Right Sector, could have been behind the deadly sniper shootings in Kiev's Independence Square, better known as Maidan, Russia's top diplomat, Sergei Lavrov, said in an interview with the Voskresnoye Vremya (Sunday Time) news program on Russia's Channel One on Sunday.
Speaking on the TV show, Foreign Minister Lavrov accused the Right Sector of pulling the strings in many violent clashes in the Ukrainian capital Kiev during the winter protest, 'including the sniper shootings'. 'That's the data we have,' he added.
Mr. Lavrov said Moscow had made its conclusions known to Western countries.
'I cannot say I'm 100 percent sure, but there are a slew of facts that indicate as much. Of course, they should be double-checked,' he noted.
The Russian foreign policy chief said he hoped the regime would be able to follow through on its investigation into the lethal attaks and not 'sweep it under the rug',
Western gov'ts instruct diplomats to avoid contact with sanctioned Russians - Russian FM
Western governments have instructed their diplomats not to attend events where Russians, from the list of Crimea related sanctions, may turn up, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
'In addition to the officially introduced sanctions, measures are being taken which arouse surprise. Our diplomats in European Union countries are denied contact at their foreign ministries. We know that US and EU diplomats working in Moscow have been instructed not to attend events at which people named on the sanctions list turn up,' Lavrov said in an interview with the Voskresnoye Vremya (Sunday Time) news program on Russia's Channel One.
'This is absolutely at odds with the tasks tackled by diplomats. Diplomacy is the art of speaking and coming to terms. If diplomats are told to act as instruments of implementing a sanctions policy, then there must be something else involved here,' he said.
Ukraine's talk of visas matters no more - Lavrov
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has dismissed threats by Ukraine to introduce visas for Russians as something that no longer matters.
'This seems to be a dead issue in Kiev by now. Someone said it on the spur of the moment. The idea has been rejected and, in my opinion, doesn't matter anymore,' Lavrov told Russia's Channel One television on Sunday.
On March 19, Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council decided to introduce visas for Russians in the wake of the Crimean referendum. Later, however, Arseniy Yatsenyk, who had been appointed prime minister by the Verkhovna Rada (parliament), announced that Kiev shouldn't rush to either introduce visas or switch to foreign passports in its relations with Russia.
Ukraine rejects federalization idea, state status for Russian language - Lavrov
Ukraine's interim foreign minister, Andriy Deshchytsya, told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier this week that the idea of Ukraine's federalization was unacceptable and that the Russian language cannot be given the status of Ukraine's second state language.
'Deshchytsya said that our proposal was unacceptable because federalization goes against the fundamental principles of Ukraine's state set-up. It is not clear, why. I don't know anything about such principles. Second. The idea of making Russian Ukraine's second state language was also rejected as unacceptable,' Lavrov said in an interview on a sunday news program. Lavrov and Deshchytsya met in The Hague on Monday.
Voice of Russia, RIA, Interfax
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