Contents tagged with Lavrov

  • Russian Foreign Minister warns the US against putting missile defense systems in space

    If the US places anti-missile defense systems in space, it will lead to a new arms race, said Russian Defense Minister Sergey Lavrov at a meeting between the foreign ministers of the BRICS countries, TASS reports.

    “A long time ago, Russia, in conjunction with China, presented a draft treaty on the prevention of weapons being placed in space at the disarmament conference in Geneva,” he noted.

    According to the minister, several countries’ increased military budgets and the disintegration of the …

  • Kremlin: Russia has contact with Venezuela’s Juan Guaido

    Venezuela’s self-declared interim president Juan Guaido has been trying to contact Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told RT in an interview.

    He said that Moscow has never ceased its dialog with Venezuela. “We are actively talking to all members of the Venezuelan political landscape – the government, the opposition, we even have people from Juan Guaido coming to us,” he noted.

    Lavrov said that Moscow has explained to him “the inadmissibility of attempts to resolve internal …

  • Putin: Russia has no plans to hand over South Kurils

    Speaking on the program “Saturday news with Sergey Brilev” on Russia 1 TV channel, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia is not going to hand over the South Kuril Islands to Japan.

    Answering the question of the host, whether it would be necessary to lower the Russian flag that is raised in the South Kurils, President Putin said that "we do not have such plans," reports Interfax news agency.

    The USSR annexed the South Kurils in the end of the World War II. According to the Soviet– …

  • Lavrov: Russia and Switzerland ended discussion on topic of espionage

    The Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, at a press conference with the Head of the Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland Ignazio Cassis, said that Russia and Switzerland had ended their discussion on the topic of espionage in Switzerland in 2018, reports TASS news agency.

    According to the Russian Minister, in November last year, Russia gave proper guarantees on the issue of espionage. "Trying to give explanations on something what we didn't do or what we are suspected of …

  • Lavrov asks Central African Republic to speed up investigation into Russian journalists' deaths

    At a meeting with Foreign Minister of Central African (CAR) Republic Sylvie Baïpo-Temon during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov asked to speed up the investigation into the murder of three Russian journalists committed in July 2018.

    Lavrov also said that Russia is ready to help CAR to normalize the situation in the country.

    Russian journalists Orkhan Jemal, Alexander Rastorguev and Kirill Radchenko, were killed on July 30, 2018, close …

  • Russia offers Japan to establish a visa-free zone

    After a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Tarō Kōno, the Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov said that Russia has offered Japan to remove visa requirements for travel between the countries.

    "We mentioned the long-standing Russian proposal to move to a visa-free regime between the Russian Federation and Japan, starting with business and tourism trips. We assume that the dialogue will continue," said Lavrov.

    Earlier, Chairwoman of the Federation Council of Russia Valentina Matvienko …

  • Japan abandons plan to sign peace treaty with Russia in June

    The Japanese government has decided to abandon its plan to sign a framework agreement for a peace treaty with Russia at the end of June, when the G20 summit will be held in Osaka, the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun reported on Saturday, citing government sources.

    The decision was reportedly made because Russia and Japan have been unable to overcome their disagreements on a number of historical matters and security concerns. Previously Japan had planned to sign a framework agreement for a …

  • Japan: Russia’s deployment of weapons in the Kuril Islands is unacceptable

    After the “2+2” meeting of the heads of diplomatic and defense departments of Russia and Japan, Japanese Foreign Minister Tarō Kōno said, that Tokyo considers the strengthening of Russia's military presence in the Southern Kuriles unacceptable, reports RIA Novosti.

    "Speaking of missile launches and the deployment and other reinforcement of Russia's military presence on the Northern Islands (the Islands of the southern part of the Kuril Chain), we told Russia that this is unacceptable from the …

  • Kremlin: Moscow awaits U.S. decision on possible Trump and Putin meeting in Osaka

    The Kremlin expressed hope that the meeting between the U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will take place, stating that Moscow did not receive a definite decision on this matter from Washington, reports the Interfax news agency.

    “We know that Trump has spoken of his desire to meet, but unfortunately we can also state that, unfortunately, (the U.S .Secretary of State Mike) Pompeo did not bring any concrete proposals about organizing such a meeting on the sidelines …

  • Pompeo threatens Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov with new sanctions

    US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who for the first time traveled in this capacity to Sochi to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin, did not come empty-handed.

    After publicly announcing his desire to “improve relations with Russia”, “find common ground” and reach an agreement on Venezuela, Pompeo threatened the Russian leaders with new sanctions.

    A new sanction bill was put forward in the US House of Representatives on 10 May, only two days after …