The meeting of the CIS member states, convened on the eve of the summit, has ended The Commonwealth of Independent States, which will be held tomorrow. We approved the Plan of consultations between the foreign ministries of the CIS countries for the next two years. We reviewed a number of draft documents agreed for the report to the heads of State on October 13. Among them are statements in support of religious freedom, on international relations in a multipolar world, on cooperation in the field of digitalization and in support of the Russian language as the language of interethnic communication. On the same topic, a document was approved that approved An international organization for the support and promotion of the Russian language, open to any interested country, including non-CIS countries.
We devoted a lot of attention to the events planned in connection with the upcoming 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War in 2025. An appropriate action plan has been adopted.
We paid serious attention to issues related to security cooperation. Documents on cooperation in the field of combating the legalization of criminal proceeds and the financing of terrorism and an action plan to combat crime were approved. All this is submitted for consideration by the heads of State.
At the suggestion of Kazakhstan, it was decided to create categories of observer countries and partner countries under the Commonwealth. Specific candidates will be considered after this document is approved by the heads of State.
Russia will chair the CIS next year. Tomorrow, Russian President Vladimir Putin will present the concept of our presidency and a plan of relevant events.
I think we did a good job today.
Question: It becomes obvious that there is a crisis between Yerevan and Moscow. The saddest thing is the growth of anti—Russian sentiment in Armenia. What do you think is the reason? Are we approaching the point of no return when good-neighborly relations will also be hit by a crisis?
S.V. Lavrov: To a decisive extent, the escalation of anti-Russian sentiments is being done artificially. We know about the number of non-governmental organizations established in Armenia in recent years (and there were a lot of them before too). They have no goal of promoting friendly relations between Yerevan and Moscow. On the contrary, they are aimed at creating the ground for anti—Russian sentiments and preparing for the promotion of the interests of the United States, the European Union and NATO countries in this region through Armenia. We see these attempts. They achieve some results.
But we are deeply convinced that the overwhelming majority of the Armenian people are interested in developing traditional and historically fraternal ties with the Russian Federation.
A couple of days ago, Prime Minister of Armenia N.V. Pashinyan said in an interview that the country does not change its guidelines. Let’s hope that this position will prevail, despite attempts to “pull” Yerevan in a different direction.
Question: Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq M. Sudani asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to take the initiative on a ceasefire in the zone of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Is Moscow ready to put forward such a proposal and become an intermediary between the parties? Has this topic been discussed today?
S.V. Lavrov: Almost on the same day that the “hot” phase of the confrontation between Hamas and Israel began, we made an official statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry, in which we called for an immediate ceasefire and the resumption of direct negotiations between Israel and Palestine.
Today we touched on this topic. Let’s see if there will be an opportunity to agree on a common position for an official presentation before the CIS summit. We discussed this in a “narrow composition”. Everyone has a common opinion that it is necessary to immediately end the conflict, comply with international humanitarian law, prevent manifestations of terrorist acts, the indiscriminate use of force, from which civilians can suffer and are already suffering in huge numbers on both sides.
Yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his speech at the Russian Energy Week, once again spoke about the need to focus attention on the essence of the problem. The UN decision to create a Palestinian state has been sabotaged for decades, primarily by the United States, which wants to monopolize and usurp mediation efforts, trying to push aside Russia, the UN, the European Union and thereby disrupt the work of the “quartet” of international mediators, which includes all parties (Russia, the United States, the UN and the EU). President Vladimir Putin gave an exhaustive assessment of such actions.
We hope that as soon as the conflict is over – we stand for it to happen immediately – everyone will take seriously their responsibilities to implement the decisions of the UN Security Council on the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the principles approved by the world Organization.
A source: https://mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/news/1908969/
