Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to questions during the Government Hour in the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Moscow, December 13, 2023

Ms Matvienko,

Federation Council members, Colleagues.

I am happy to have another opportunity to take part in the Government Hour.

Interaction between our ministry and the Federal Assembly, its chambers and commissions has been long-term and friendly. We highly value the MPs’ courteous, unbiased attitude. Intensive feedback is really enhancing the efficiency of the Russian diplomatic service. It would be no exaggeration to say that the rich experience of the senators in the most diverse areas is of great help in our work.

We are interested in continuing our efforts to implement the foreign policy course endorsed by the President of the Russian Federation. As before, it is aimed at ensuring Russia’s security and creating favourable external conditions for accelerated domestic development and the strengthening of the country’s positions in the international arena as a leading world power. This belongs to us by right. In the efforts to reach these goals, we particularly appreciate the support of the lawmakers that express the aspirations of our entire nation.

We will continue doing all we can to facilitate the undertakings of parliamentary diplomacy whether it’s bilateral contacts with our foreign partners or participation in multilateral forums like the CSTO, the CIS, BRICS, the G20, the UN, the Inter-Parliamentary Union or others.

I would like to make special mention of the initiative of the United Russia national political party to conduct an international interparty forum in Moscow for supporters of the fight against modern practices of neo-colonialism. This was backed by all parliamentary parties. In the Foreign Ministry, we are doing much for the preparation and implementation of this initiative.

The world situation has not become any easier since our last meeting in December 2021. Many of the unfortunate things that are happening today are rooted in the irrepressible striving of Washington and a small group of its associates to impose their vision of everything on the rest of the world. Hence, many notorious concepts in their “rules-based order” and the division of all countries into democracies and autocracies. The essence of these concepts is obvious, simple and not hidden – the West wants to ensure a privileged position and continue reaching its development goals at the expense of others. In this case – at the expense of the world majority. As before, the Westerners are not ready for honest, equitable interaction with other countries.

However, they are no longer able to contain new global centres of growth and development in their customary straightforward and rude manner. The balance of power is rapidly shifting and not in favour of our Western colleagues. The combined GDP of BRICS economies (these figures were recently cited by President Putin) at purchasing power parity exceeded that of the G7 economies in 2021. With the accession of new members (from January 1, 2024), this gap will widen. As of the end of last year, despite sanctions, Russia, by the same measure, rose to the fifth place globally ($5.33 trillion), overtaking Germany ($5.31 trillion). Moreover, the growth rate of our economy this year is estimated to exceed 3 percent, while the German economy will shrink.

It pains our ill-wishers to realise that their bet on a sanctions blitzkrieg on the Russian economy has completely failed. Those who unleashed a hybrid war against us refuse to admit their mistakes and are trying to use other illegal tools to “exhaust” Russia (as they say), nurturing the dream of eliminating our country as an independent geopolitical entity. The collective West is making liberal use of Ukrainian neo-Nazis to achieve the same goals. After the hopes placed in the “counteroffensive” crumbled, Washington stopped talking about the strategic defeat of Russia on the battlefield. They adopted a new mantra (as we saw during Zelensky’s visit), “Don't let Putin win” in Ukraine, because he will conquer all of NATO next. And then America will have to do something. However, their approaches remain unchanged. They want to make their Kiev “clients” die for the interests of their overseas lords in an attempt to undermine Russia. As President Putin repeatedly made clear, we (and you have seen this in actual actions) are ready for such a challenge and will continue to firmly uphold our truth.

The policy of isolating Russia has failed. Numerous contacts between President Putin and his foreign counterparts have shown that our responsible policy based on the UN Charter principles enjoys broad support among the majority of countries around the world.

The tectonic shifts occurring in the world and forecasts for the evolution of the international situation are reflected in the revised version of the Foreign Policy Concept approved by the Presidential Executive Order on March 31. The document proclaims Russia's civilisational mission as a global power playing a balancing role in international affairs.

We are not accommodating concepts and schemes put forward by other countries. We independently shape our foreign policy and remain guided by our own priorities while adhering to internationally recognised norms of international law and taking into account the interests of our partners who are willing to work with us based on mutual respect and consideration of mutual interests.

The key tasks include building up strategic partnership and alliances with the countries of the near abroad, both in bilateral and multilateral formats. Integration within the EAEU, which Russia chairs this year, is deepening. In 2024, we will chair the CIS.

Cooperation within the Union State of Russia and Belarus is expanding. We closely coordinate foreign policy steps with our Belarusian friends, including on key international platforms. The work within the CSTO remains an important mechanism for maintaining regional security and stability.

We attach great importance to our relations with other neighbours and, in general, with all Eurasian countries. Russian-Chinese relations of comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction are experiencing their best period in history. The role of a wide-ranging and trust-based dialogue at the top level is hard to overestimate. Two Russian-Chinese summits took place this year alone (in Moscow in March and in October in Beijing). The diplomatic link tying Moscow and Beijing plays a stabilising role in the international arena.

Relations of special and privileged strategic partnership with India are progressively advancing. Ties with ASEAN countries, Türkiye, and the Middle Eastern countries are expanding as well. This found striking reflection during President of Russia Putin's visits to the UAE and Saudi Arabia and his talks with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Moscow.

We have teamed up with our African friends to implement the decisions of the second Russia-Africa Summit held in St Petersburg in July, including the decision to create a mechanism for regular meetings of foreign ministers, which we are implementing.

We maintain multifaceted cooperation with Latin American and Caribbean countries. I would like to emphasise the contribution of the parliamentary contacts to the development of ties with this region. The Russia-Latin America international parliamentary conference held in Moscow between September 29 and October 2 of this year deserves the highest praise. Judging by the composition of the participants and the assessments they shared with our diplomats, this event was extremely useful and promising.

On January 1, Russia will take over the BRICS chairmanship. This association is one of the pillars of the emerging multipolar world order. We will facilitate the smooth integration of new participants into BRICS working structures. We hope to attend the Kazan summit next October with a solid package of solutions in politics, security, finances, the economy and the cultural and humanitarian area. We have planned about 200 events for this, including ministerial contacts. The BRICS foreign ministers will meet in Nizhny Novgorod in the summer next year.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) functions on principles similar to BRICS – equality and mutual respect. We consider the SCO to be the backbone of the Greater Eurasian Partnership open to all states and organisations on our continent. This initiative by President Vladimir Putin in 2015, evokes interest from many of our foreign partners, including the ASEAN member states and our Chinese friends that support the EAEU’s integration efforts with the projects based on the One Belt, One Road Initiative.

The Western part of the Eurasian continent is sinking deeper into a political, socio-economic and ideological crisis against the backdrop of the positive trends that reflect the objective process of the formation of a genuinely polycentric, fair world order. Under Washington’s dictate, the EU countries are losing their independence and breaking mutually beneficial ties with Russia, which helped ensure their economic prosperity for many decades.  For the sake of loyalty to the hegemon, they are depriving themselves of enormous comparative, competitive advantages that history has granted our common space. A frontal attack on our common history has been launched to justify their pernicious Russophobic course. As part of the hybrid war conducted against Russia, some countries in Europe, primarily Poland and the Baltic states (but they are not the only ones) are glorifying Hitler’s collaborationists and demolishing monuments to Soviet liberator soldiers in the wake of such actions by the Kiev regime. For many years, we have been fighting the falsification of history, in part, in the UN General Assembly, to which we submit a draft resolution on countering the glorification of Nazism every year, which is supported by the overwhelming majority of the international community with the exception of the collective West.

We are particularly concerned about the fact that Germany, Italy and Japan (the former Axis states) have voted against this resolution for the second year running. Previously, they abstained from voting on it. This action by Berlin, Rome and Tokyo raises doubt in the sincerity of their remorse for crimes against humanity, which were committed during the World War II years. The same applies to the agreements and understandings with which these three countries were admitted to the UN. This compels us to think of the current reckless state of the collective West.

Protection of the rights of Russian citizens abroad is among our absolute priorities. Recently, they have been subjected in the West to open discrimination and harassment on ethnic grounds. Another urgent task is to help our compatriots in crisis areas.  The world saw how the Foreign Ministry and the Emergencies Ministry evacuated our citizens from the Gaza Strip and several months earlier from Sudan, and this included citizens from the CIS countries and other states that were in trouble because of aggravated local conflicts.

Further cohesion in the multiethnic and multifaith Russian World is also on our agenda. Using this opportunity, I would like to draw your attention to an extremely sought-after undertaking that was launched this year. I am referring to the International Movement of Russophiles (IMR). It unites foreign citizens that feel a spiritual and cultural affinity to Russia and share its traditional moral values. A broad convention of this movement is scheduled for the beginning of 2024.

We are working on revealing the potential for cultural, public and people’s diplomacy. We will make use of the opportunities of the International Russian Language Organisation established by the CIS leaders last October at the initiative of President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. People from all countries of the world are invited to participate.

Our action plan on the international stage is complemented with a number of major international cultural events scheduled for 2024, including the World Youth Festival, the Games of the Future, the BRICS Games and the World Friendship Games. Another significant event is the revival of the Intervision song festival based on a new concept. The Foreign Ministry is doing everything it can to make the best possible impression of our country on athletes, actors and foreign guests.

Colleagues,

The strategic  foreign policy concept approved by President Putin looks to the future. It is not connected to two- or four-year election cycles, as in many Western countries where politicians take pride in their supposed democratic traditions. In fact, they sacrifice the long-term strategic interests of their nations to election manoeuvres and intrigues.

Our approach on the international stage does not depend on the whims of ill-wishers. Most importantly, it is widely supported by the country’s leading political forces and citizens. It is a key factor that gives our actions the necessary degree of stability on the international stage and makes it possible to efficiently address national development goals and to improve the quality of life for all Russian citizens.

Question: What is the UN’s development outlook in the context of the situation in the Middle East?

Sergey Lavrov: You probably know what our diplomats and their colleagues in the overwhelming majority of countries have been doing in this regard. Our goal is to stop the bloodshed and ensure compliance with all norms of the international humanitarian law, in particular, protect civilians during hostilities and prevent the indiscriminate shelling of the areas where civilian infrastructure is located, not to mention civilians themselves.

You are aware of the position of our Israeli colleagues. They believe that they have the right to eliminate Hamas by any means necessary. We can watch in real time the results of this course. Entire neighbourhoods have been razed to the ground. Over 18,000 civilians have died, and the figure is growing every day. Two thirds of the dead are women and children. It is a horrible situation. Regrettably, the dispute at the UN seems to be waged for the first place in rhetoric or ideology, if you like.

From day one, we, including President Putin, firmly condemned the terrorist attack perpetrated by Hamas on Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, which resulted in numerous casualties. We called for suppressing such terrorist activities. At the same time, we do not regard the methods used against Hamas as acceptable, because they have caused suffering mostly to innocent civilians.

Our Israeli colleagues said, I believe it was Bejamin Netanyahu who said so, that the death toll among terrorists is approximately equal to the civilian death toll. This does not appear probable, but it is impossible to verify the figures on the ground. Even UN staff face huge difficulties when moving around or even staying in Gaza. Moreover, about a hundred UN personnel have been killed in Gaza, or more than in any other conflict.

In this situation, Russia, acting jointly with the majority of other countries but primarily Arab and Muslim states and member of the Non-Aligned Movement, has submitted a draft resolution on humanitarian ceasefire to the UN Security Council. Our Western colleagues took a different approach. They blocked our draft resolution and also a similar resolution proposed by Brazil.

After that, developing countries appealed to the UN General Assembly, which adopted a moderated resolution that called for humanitarian truce rather than humanitarian ceasefire. But the West voted against that meek call. Furthermore, the UN Security Council, as if compelled to state its position, adopted an even weaker resolution of humanitarian pauses. It did not demand a ceasefire or truce but called for humanitarian pauses for “a sufficient number of days,” which means that hostilities would resume immediately after these pauses.

We did not block that resolution, if only because it represents some form of action. However, it is unacceptable for the UNSC to adopt a humanitarian decision at a time when people are dying that devalues even the General Assembly’s meek call.

This month, our friends from the UAE are completing their tenure in the Security Council. They are genuinely trying to coordinate a resolution that would reflect the Security Council’s authority and responsibility. We are doing our best to help them achieve that, but have not had much success so far.

Many legal aspects are under dispute, but most importantly, any resolution aimed at taking specific action to save civilian lives invariably meets with political assessments made by the West. They insist on specifically condemning Hamas. In response, developing countries suggest condemning Israel's actions. They argue that they condemn Hamas, and Israel is entitled to defend itself. Developing countries retort by citing the International Court ruling passed over 15 years ago, which remains valid and states that occupying powers do not have the right to self-defence in occupied territories. What we have here is a conflict between the legal assessment of the situation and political slogans.

We, including President Putin, have repeatedly made this clear in our assessments. We heard what UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had to say as the guardian of the UN Charter. He stated the October 7 terrorist attack was outrageous and could not be condoned, but it did not happen in a vacuum. By “vacuum” he meant the existing decision that was made 75 years ago, according to which, an Arab state of Palestine should have been created next to the state of Israel. No one has ever created it and as we can see from the position adopted by the West, they are not going to do so.

According to our information, the West and the current Israeli leadership are against Gaza uniting with the West Bank as required by the decision to create this state. To our great regret, despite Russia and many other countries’ request, they continue to create Jewish settlements on the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem, which are territories that, under any circumstances, must be an integral part of the Palestinian state. You may have seen in the televised reports that the settlers often act extremely aggressively. In East Jerusalem alone, the decision to create 1,800 new settlements has been approved recently. They will largely be built on the Palestinian territories.

The practice of demolishing Palestinian homes and banishing Palestinian families from these houses continues unabated. Israel wants to develop these territories to build new settlements in violation of every Security Council resolution concerning the Palestinian state. The practice of building illegal settlements is not approved by anyone. The United States has repeatedly urged its main ally to stop doing that.

For many years, in my candid discussions with almost all of my Israeli counterparts about Israel's uncompromising position on the Palestinian issue, I made it clear that the unresolved issue of the Palestinian state was the only material factor fuelling extremism across the Middle East. They said it was an overstatement and claimed there were enough terrorists there anyway.

When Israel's most recent operation against Gaza began, one of the Israeli military leaders said there were no civilians there, and everyone aged three or older was a terrorist and an extremist. This is one way to put it. This is exactly what I was referring to. The unresolved issue of the Palestinian state establishment fuels much of the extremist sentiment. When children are born, do their parents tell them that they live in paradise? No, they tell them they live in an occupied territory, which was supposed to become a Palestinian state 75 years ago within borders that were larger than what they are left with now. Of course, children are told about this in kindergartens and at home. Indeed, they don’t feel like living in peace with their neighbours when they grow up and see a wall around them and a blockade that has been in effect for 50 years now.

We have always (President Putin emphasised this) focused on ensuring Israel’s security. Two million of our citizens, not former citizens, live there. Most of them have retained their Russian citizenship. We have close ties. It is the Holy Land, the root of the Orthodox religion, and home to its relics.

President Putin has always made it clear in his contacts with the Israelis, Arabs, and other countries as well that we must not allow moves that would jeopardise Israel's security. We are convinced that “laying waste with fire and sword” to certain groups of the Palestinian people, including the military wings of organisations that clearly operate on terrorist principles, is hardly the way forward?

We know how to deal with terrorism as well. Remember (many here probably witnessed) Beslan and Nord-Ost at Dubrovka. Back then, the entire “enlightened” Western world was vehemently opposed to our special forces assaulting these buildings, because in addition to terrorists, there were civilians in the hospital in Beslan and spectators in the theatre who came to see the Nord-Ost musical. Remember the angry calls coming our way? When the situation became hopeless, we were forced to carry out the operations that caused civilian casualties and were later investigated. The West then claimed that Russia was violating international humanitarian law. Compare that with what is happening now when some Israeli military leaders say that the developments in Gaza are a tragedy of war.

I will say it again, we will never agree to any arrangements that would undercut or compromise Israel's security. We are convinced that its security can only be ensured in accordance with the UN resolutions which imply and demand that an autonomous and independent state of Palestine should live and thrive next to Israel and all neighbouring countries, in security and as a good neighbour.

Question: The Greater Eurasian Partnership, an idea that President Vladimir Putin proposed in 2015, is gaining ever more support and becoming increasingly realistic, given the progress in regional cooperation and the strategic partnership between Russia and China, as well as the alignment of the EAEU and Belt and Road projects. Do you think it possible to develop new approaches to security architecture in Europe and Eurasia as a whole based on the Greater Eurasian Partnership concept? Can it replace the clearly outdated OSCE format, which was created in a different epoch and is based on the 1975 Helsinki Final Act and the 1990 Paris Charter for New Europe?

Sergey Lavrov: Not only is it possible, but we are already doing it. The Greater Eurasian Partnership, as President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stressed since 2015, when he announced this initiative at the Russia-ASEAN Summit, is not some scheme “drawn up in high offices and later handed down to potential participants,” as is the case with a number of US initiatives for what they call the Indo-Pacific Region. As for this idea, all sub-regional organisations in the Eurasian continent and unaffiliated individual states, as they “follow the dictates of life,” will search for and identify promising and mutually beneficial areas for their concerted efforts.

You mentioned the Belt and Road initiative. The Chinese have a relevant agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union. The EAEU, in turn, has an agreement with ASEAN and the SCO (which also has an agreement with ASEAN), but here there are a number of other organisations that we would be happy to see joining this consultative process designed to explore promising areas for cooperation. 

Let me also mention the Arab League, which mostly includes countries located in Eurasia and the Gulf area, that is, entirely within the Eurasian continent.

I spoke about this in my remarks at the latest meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council. The OSCE has failed to establish itself as a fully functional organisation. The West benefitted from keeping it weak and “amoebic,” easily amenable to manipulation. This organisation has ceased to perform its functions. There were many useful agreements on arms control, information exchanges, transparency and mutual constraints, as well as confidence-building measures. The West has broken up or consigned to the rubbish heap all these agreements. As a security organisation, the OSCE does not provide us with added value.

However, the rest of the Eurasian continent, where efforts are underway to build an economic and financial foundation for the further development of this entire vast space, we are seeing conditions that enable us to address Eurasian security.

In many respects, the SCO is engaged in handling these issues.  It was created as an organisation for border cooperation between five countries and these matters are still relevant. But today it also includes a counter-terrorist structure. The CIS also has an Anti-Terrorism Centre. The CSTO, which is a security organisation by definition, is also establishing ties and building bridges with its partners in this region.

Let me note Kazakhstan’s initiative to establish the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia. Currently, our Kazakhstani friends aim to transform it into an organisation, and we support them. But it should specifically be a Eurasian organisation. We have been blessed with this vast continent where we are neighbours, and our conceptual approaches must align with this celestial design.

This is what should have happened with the OSCE. But when the OSCE was created, the West refused to adopt a charter, despite fifteen years of our efforts to this effect.

I mentioned in my opening remarks that the Europeans decided to renounce these natural competitive advantages. They preferred their opportunities to be quashed by the Americans, who are not concealing that this is their true intention. Had the Europeans chosen to behave decently and develop equitable projects on the broader Eurasian plane, they would have had a totally different situation now. We are striving to make Eurasian security a realistic proposition. We will not fence ourselves off from anyone but instead, we will create security arrangements with those who do not want to ensure their security at the expense of others. This includes the countries in the Eurasian continent who are prepared (unlike the OSCE) to put into practice the principles of indivisible security, which were proclaimed by the OSCE but were later undermined by NATO’s expansion. Unfortunately, this process has culminated in an outbreak of war against us in Ukraine.

Question: The Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation, which was approved over six months ago, is an important document that outlines our response to the challenges facing our country as well as the world. It provides a long-term strategy and specifies what we offer to potential partners interested in working with us, which is based on open, faithful and equal cooperation. This paves the way for expanding the scope of countries that hold similar approaches or, at the very least, states that they are interested in working together. We see that this group is expanding with almost every new multilateral event in our country. At the same time, the West is clearly concerned about our success and is launching purposeful work with the collective South. What are our priorities for gaining support for our ideas when working with the countries of the collective South?

Sergey Lavrov: These priorities are in fact stated in the Foreign Policy Concept.  Our focus is our closest neighbours, allies, partners and countries of the Global South: China, India, ASEAN, Africa and Latin America.

For us, there are no second-rate regions. Our main principle is that we are willing to work with anyone who is interested in equal and fair interaction and democratisation – as in democratisation of international relations, not forcing the Western-style system on specific countries. We are actively developing these relations in Latin America, Africa and Eurasia.

I started by speaking about our immediate neighbours. I would not say we launched a diplomatic offensive. Rather, we demonstrated how we want to work. And we have done this not only conceptually on paper, but also through practical steps.

In my opening remarks, I listed several events – our bilateral summits and other meetings, multilateral platforms where we simply stand up for justice. It is very difficult to squash the truth. It will always show and manifest itself, whether it concerns Ukraine or the Middle East crisis.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stressed that for many years, long before the special military operation in Ukraine, the United States refused to participate in the quartet of international mediators (the United States, Russia, the European Union and the UN), who have a fully-fledged legal mandate from the UN Security Council. The format just had to stop working. We have always advocated for expanding this format beyond the current participants that do not represent the region and including the League of Arab States as a full participant. The Americans said that the quartet could meet without them, that they were not interested, and would make all decisions on their own. They monopolised the process.

The previous [US] Administration declared that it was ready to generously give the Palestinians land as a handout. Both the Palestinians and the Arabs rejected the proposal because they saw it as a mockery of justice.

Their more recent ideas on how to resolve this issue are not much different. They want to invent something they will later call a [Palestinian] state. But if you look at the map of the West Bank, you see that it is nothing like a state. Rather, it is a patchwork quilt, with Israeli settlements dominating the landscape.

Returning to your question, there is growing concern in the West. There may be a variety of reasons for this. I do not know what feelings there are on the inside. But they are going out of their way to prevent an even closer rapprochement between the Global South and the Russian Federation, and that is a fact. They are shuttling between countries, warning everyone against contacts with Russia under threat of various penalties: they are threatening to cancel aid packages, cut arms supplies or deny them US visas. They are actually exploiting certain global majority leaders’ personal connections in the West. Many have bank accounts there, or children at Western schools. They do not stop short of using this to pressure people.

If you are so pro-democracy, why don’t you let others show their independence, think independently? We took the actions we did. President of Russia Vladimir Putin explained in great detail on the night before February 24, 2022, that we had no other choice. But that was not the first time. He had been issuing warnings for eight years, if not longer, ever since his Munich speech. He has been warning Ukraine from the moment of the bloody anti-constitutional coup that was rejected by the residents of the east and south of Ukraine. The first thing the people behind it did was launch a crusade against the Russian language, and all subsequent rulers in Kiev, who came to power after the coup, implemented it in practice. The Russian language was exterminated by law. The latest amendment to the law on national minorities clearly and legislatively prohibited the use of the Russian language for all eternity. That's the kind of people they are. But Europe remains silent.

The post-Soviet countries are clearly the West’s biggest concern, so all of its anti-Russia energy is concentrated there. Their priority is to try to break the ties that exist between the former Soviet republics, to disrupt this integrated economic system, the law enforcement system, which also used to be unified, and the common security system.  These systems are targeted by Western institutions, NGOs and all sorts of foundations for democracy, for “all things good,” that are trying to introduce their donor programmes acting through the US Agency for International Development or affiliated with it, with clear and full coordination by the government in Washington. Border security, contraband detection and radioactive security equipment, and more – the most sensitive spheres. They are trying to introduce their own instructors, to gain wider access to the decision-making mechanisms. We are openly talking about this with our allies. The overwhelming majority of them, according to our estimates, are perfectly aware of the Western plans. It is clear that they do not want to quarrel with Western countries. We wouldn’t want to quarrel with the West either, if it hadn’t unleashed a war against us.

We see how determined the West is about disrupting our ties that have bound us for decades and centuries. This is their underlying goal. We need to focus our main efforts, exclusively in an interdepartmental format, to thwart them. President of Russia Vladimir Putin is perfectly aware of this task. We will implement it.

Question:  What measures does the Russian Foreign Ministry currently plan to take to simplify the visa regimes with the nations that are friendly to Russia in order to promote international tourism?

Sergey Lavrov:  We are involved in this work, but we do not plan to act alone. The Ministry of Economic Development, which is responsible for tourism, and the Internal Affairs Ministry, are also participating. We have provided written answers to the majority of questions. You can find statistics in them, including the answer to your question.

Today, we have visa-free agreements with over 60 countries and agreements with over 40 countries on simplified entry and exit procedures, which are quite convenient. Last August we introduced a single electronic visa for travelling to and from over 50 countries.  We had planned this long before that but had to postpone this process due to the pandemic. Over five months, more than 120,000 people have used it, which is quite an impressive figure for a new tool. About half of them are Chinese, and there are about 10,000 Indian, Saudi and Turkish nationals. This measure will also encourage visits to our country.

We have decided that there is currently no need for further measures as the ones we have already introduced create favourable conditions for travelling to our country. At least, everyone with whom our ambassadors to the relevant countries have spoken has praised the electronic visa.

Life is not static. We and China are moving towards a visa-free regime for group tours. This process will continue. We are analysing it in terms of border security and compliance with our laws. However, it is obvious that the procedure has become more liberal, and this process will continue.

Question: What work is currently being carried out or is planned to upgrade the checkpoints along the border with China?

Sergey Lavrov: This is not a question for me. Of course, we take part in various commissions jointly with China, including the one that handles border issues. However, the responsibility for upgrading check points lies with the Border Service of the Federal Security Service. They have professionals working there.

As for us, we always support efforts to explore more opportunities, if they are needed to match the real tourist flows from both sides – then this should be done.

We have finally found a solution to the situation at Verkhny Lars. It is an important issue and it has more to do with us. Regarding China, I regularly see similar requests from my Chinese colleagues. They are being addressed. There is a plan to improve the situation. They have commissioned another bridge and railway crossing.  They are actively working on this.

Valentina Matviyenko: There is a special intergovernmental commission that handles issues related to checkpoints. It is headed by Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov. There is also a special government programme for checkpoint modernisation. Unfortunately, it has proven to be ineffective. Russian President Vladimir Putin has instructed the Government to revise it and work harder, including on the checkpoints on the border with China. At the Federation Council, the Committee on Economic Policy is responsible for this. Its Chairman Andrey Kutepov is a member of this special intergovernmental commission. You can discuss it with him, and if you have proposals regarding your region, they will be forwarded to this intergovernmental commission. Efforts have been stepped up now. However, there are many problems to address, including outdated checkpoints and a lack of infrastructure and roads.

Question: Due to their close proximity to Japan, the people in Russia's Far East are closely following the developments around the damaged Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. In August 2023, China completely stopped importing seafood from Japan, and South Korea followed suit. On October 16, 2023, Russia also joined in by implementing temporary restrictive measures regarding fish and seafood imports from Japan. These restrictions have been put in place pending the receipt of exhaustive information needed to confirm seafood safety standards and their compliance with the requirements of the Eurasian Economic Union. They will remain in effect until specialists from Russia's Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision (Rosselkhoznadzor) complete their evaluation. Considering Rosselkhoznadzor's opinion that radioactive substances will inevitably accumulate on the seabed and in water organisms due to the continued dumping of water reserves from the Fukushima NPP into the ocean, what measures are set to be implemented for monitoring the radiological situation in the Pacific Ocean's waters?

Sergey Lavrov: Numerous statements have already been made on this issue, including by Primorye Territory Governor Oleg Kozhemyako.
Scientists were prepared from the very beginning to analyse the negative environmental impact of the Fukushima NPP's water reserves, as well as their impact on biological resources, including seafood consumed by the people of Russia. Our Chinese colleagues and we initially suggested that the IAEA, a respected organisation, should monitor this process.

In addition to what you have mentioned, the Secretary has an obligation to give special attention to this issue. They periodically submit reports that are not alarmist, but they do not provide a complete clarification of this issue, as there are still many unanswered questions.

Furthermore, we have provided the IAEA with a list of our laboratories that can analyse the relevant substances, including water. We have openly stated that we are requesting to be included in monitoring the quality during the implementation of the Japanese project. They have assured us that they will involve them from early 2024. We will try to facilitate a maximum transparent process for our public.

Question: In the current conditions, regional projects related to the tasks of international cultural and humanitarian cooperation are seen as important by the regions. Could you provide some information about possible mechanisms for implementing them and the support measures from the federal Government?

Sergey Lavrov: The federal Government actively encourages regular communication of all ministries and agencies with the regions, including the Russian Foreign Ministry's Council of Heads of Constituent Entities of the Russian Federation, which has been functioning for many years.

The Council members analyse projects involving our regions and those in other countries, and not just neighbouring countries. Despite the lack of direct contacts, close cooperation is still possible. For example, many Central Russian regions cooperate with China's provinces.

The second function of the Council is to support regional actions that align with the Russian Federation's foreign policy. The Council is working. I am currently leading the Council, and we have already held over 40 meetings. We aim to meet every quarter or every six months, depending on the specific issues. This mechanism has proven to be useful. After each meeting, we distribute materials to all of the Federation's constituent entities and federal districts, and we also report to the President and the Prime Minister. These materials are highly sought after and useful.

If you believe that the Tomsk Region has any initiatives that should be supported by our ministry, please don't hesitate to contact us. We would be happy to support them, especially since Tomsk is one of our prominent educational centres. Promoting this agenda is always a pleasure.