Herunterladen "Black Sea Grain Initiative - Russia Presser | United Nations (Министр иностранных дел России)"

Пресс-конференция министра иностранных дел Российской федерации Сергея Лаврова. ------------------------------------------ Press Conference by H.E. Mr. Sergey Lavrov, Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation. Asked about the negotiations to extend the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov, said that he “can't say that the UN has not been undertaking efforts in the right direction, on the contrary”, but “there has been practically no result.” Briefing journalists in New York on Tuesday (25 Apr), Lavrov mentioned the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, and the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, saying that “they all have been advocating and try to reach agreement with the countries that have announced illegitimate, unilateral sanctions against the Russian Federation.” Answering a question about a letter Guterres sent to President Vladimir Putin regarding the extension of the deal, the minister said that “if this correspondence was disclosed, that would not be very appropriate.” Lavrov added, “This would be reflective of another attempt to exert pressure on a situation and this is not acceptable. And that a situation has not been resolved and is brought to a deadline by Western colleagues.” Explaining that one of the objections Russia has towards the deal is the obstacles to exporting its fertilizers, the minister said, “I would recall that, on 22 July of last year, this Black Sea initiative was agreed upon and it was signed, and the text explicitly stated that this pertains to the export of grain and ammonia.” Another journalists noted that, over one year ago, Russia said one of the reasons it was invading Ukraine was to stop the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), but in fact it has continued to expand, more recently with Finland joining it. Lavrov responded saying, “The claim that Russia tried to prevent NATO's expansion and only sped it up as a result is probably how you see things, or how you try to describe things from your end of the situation. We also have our own takes, our own views, and the unbiased assessments that our political scientists, as well as those abroad, make are that if NATO sought to break Russia apart, in the end it only made it stronger and brought it closer together.” The Foreign Affairs Minister also mentioned his position that the world is moving towards a new multipolar order, saying, “We have been setting up our position, the People's Republic of China, Brazil, many others have been setting out their positions. And we have been proposing that we base ourselves on what is enshrined in the United Nations Charter, that we all have equal rights, and that we all need to strive to achieve a balance of interests and to collectively resolve global problems.” He also said that “probably the best way to persuade Western countries of the fact that the multi-polar world order is already taking shape is simply not to get in the way of a historic process.” On the topic of the journalists detained in Russia, the minister said that “perhaps it would be useful to consider how things are with freedom of speech in the United States.” He added, “I have heard that Tucker Carlson has left Fox News. It's curious news. What is this related to? One can only guess, but clearly the wealth of views in the American information space has suffered as a result.” Turning to the United States decision to deny vIsas to journalists who wanted to cover Lavrov's trip to New York, he said, “We will certainly take this inappropriate conduct by the US leadership into account, the inappropriate conduct of the State Department. They took the decision and we will take this into account when the Americans need something from us.”