Ladies and Gentlemen,

We have conducted good negotiations with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of South Sudan, Benjamin Barnaba. This was the first visit of the head of the foreign service of South Sudan to the Russian Federation. We expect that the results of these negotiations will give a noticeable impetus to the development of traditionally friendly relations between our countries.

We have prospects for that. Today, we were convinced of this, having discussed the possibilities of bilateral interaction in areas including construction, energy, transport, oil and gas, staff preparation and military and technical cooperation. We agreed to assist business circles of our countries in the activation of their respective contacts. In 2013, the first business forum was held in Juba. We believe that it is time to prepare similar events and to update the agenda of contacts between businessmen. I think that the meeting of Benjamin Barnaba with leaders of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation today will contribute to this.

We have no disagreements regarding the need to ensure stable peace and stability in the RSS as an important prerequisite for further development of bilateral ties in trade, economic interests and other areas. My colleague informed me about the situation in South Sudan, which occurred because of the internal armed conflict, which started in December 2013, as well as the steps, which are being undertaken by the President and leaders of the country to normalise the situation. These actions support these steps. We welcome the efforts of the African regional structures and the international community to assist in a speedy return to normality. We have a basis for this – I mean, in particular, the Agreement on settlement of the crisis in RSS, which was signed in Addis Ababa on the 9 May. It is important that all the signatories of this document strictly followed the agreements reached.

We also discussed the international agenda. Our positions on key issues of current events – the need to respect and reinforce the central coordinating role of the UN in global affairs, the observance of international law, the respect for independence and individuality of people – are the same or similar. We agreed to strengthen our coordination in the UN and other multilateral formats.

We confirmed our gratitude to the RSS for its close interaction with Russia on the issue related to Russian initiatives in the UN. We appreciate the unchangeable support for our initiative, including the resolution regarding the unacceptability of the glorification of Nazism. South Sudan is also voting for Russian resolutions, which are dedicated to the reinforcement of international information security, the reinforcement of trust in outer space. Today, we agreed to continue these practices.

We discussed the African topic in detail. Russia is convinced that Africans should play the key and leading role in the settlement of different conflicts on the continent. The African Union and sub-regional associations on the continent proved that they can undertake a peacekeeping initiative and deserve strong support from the UN and its Security Council. We have trust in that.

As regards the settlement of conflicts in Somali, the Central African Republic, Mali, DRC and in the Great Lakes Region in general, Russia as a permanent member of the UN Security Council will continue to make an active contribution to peacekeeping initiatives in the African continent.

We are concerned that relations between RSS and Sudan normalise as soon as possible. In this regard, we believe that it is important to implement all the agreements which have been reached between Juba and Khartoum since September 2012. Our negotiating partners confirmed their commitment to the search for practical and mutually acceptable ways of implementing these agreements.

We are satisfied with the results of the negotiations. We agreed to continue and develop our contacts.

Question: Many foreigners receive education in Russia. Do you think that cooperation between Russia and South Sudan will only consist in investments into RSS or will your country also help us in preparation of staff? In your opinion, what are the future prospects for cooperation with the Republic of South Sudan?

Sergey Lavrov: We always believed that the relations between states and people should be based on equality, mutual consideration of interests and respect for the legitimate positions of one another. We have paid special attention to the reinforcement of ties between people since the times of the Soviet Union. Preparation of staff and cooperation in the area of education indeed played an important role. Since that time we have benefitted for the results of that policy – dozens of thousands of people, who graduated from higher education establishments in our country, live and work in all continents. In many countries they are leaders of political parties, are members of governments, hold positions of presidents and prime ministers. These are investments in human capital, which ensures mutual interest between us and our partners.

Today Benjamin Barnaba confirmed his interest in activation of bilateral cooperation, especially in the area of education and staff preparation. We will take this wish into consideration. We are interested in the development of ties with our partners, including the trade and economic areas, and that it is based on relations between people. We believe that we will have prepared competent and professional staff on both sides in developing our partnership. We understand the value of such interaction well and will devote special attention to it.

Question: The Central Electoral Committee of Ukraine started to publish the first election results. At the moment, only 60% of the results are known through bulletins published so far, according to which the situation is, in fact, evident. How would you comment on this campaign, the elections in different regions and the prospects of the elected authorities to set up a dialogue with Moscow, primarily taking into account the statements coming from and the conditions set by Kiev?

Sergey Lavrov: We continue to monitor the events in Ukraine. The President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, gave an assessment of the situation many times, stating the Russian position, including on the side-lines of the events of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Today we can say, that there were problems in the election campaign. You know that not all the candidates for presidency were able to complete their election not because they did not want to, but because abnormal conditions obstructed them from doing so. There were cases of threatening, beating, setting houses of candidates on fire, obstacles against their election campaigns (the plane of one of the candidates was turned back ), etc. Many of the candidates were forced to withdraw from running, because they received threats and were afraid for their lives.

The fact that voting in Ukraine was organised in many Ukrainian regions probably can be assessed positively, in general. As the President Vladimir Putin said, 'we will respect the results of the election of the Ukrainian people'. The main thing is that the current authorities respect their nationals and reach compromise agreements, which show consideration for the interests of all the political forces, ethnic and religious groups. They will hardly get anywhere without this. We noted the statement by Petro Poroshenko that he will make his first trip to Donbass, if he is elected.

We always support the establishment of real dialogue between the Kiev authorities and all the Ukrainian regions. We are convinced that this is the key to the resolution of the deepest crisis of Ukrainian national identity, which we have seen. We expect that after these elections the Ukrainian authorities will confirm or announce their commitment to the roadmap for settlement proposed by the OSCE Presidency. This document was supported, as they used to say, by the entire international community, and it should be followed. I would like to emphasise the words by the special coordinator for OSCE international electoral observer team, Portuguese politician, João Soares, who appealed to Kiev and the regions to have a dialogue, to ignore terms including "separatists" and "terrorists", which only escalate tensions and do not help to create conditions for a sincere business talk about the fate of the country. I repeat, the OSCE roadmap, which was supported by Russia, the European Union and the United States, is the foundation, on which we should work.

When we are talking about the course of voting and the results of elections, we cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that the "counter-terrorism operation" did not stop. Yesterday or this morning the First Deputy of Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Vitaly Yarema, stated that now that the voting has ended, the Kiev authorities will renew the active phase of the so-called "counter-terrorism operation". This will be a tremendous mistake. They should not miss the opportunity this presents to set up a mutually respectful and equal dialogue, taking into consideration the expression of will through the election, the results of which Russia is ready to respect (I repeat this).

We hope that Petro Poroshenko, if his authority is confirmed, will do everything to rein in the prevalence of some extremist and radical feeling in Kiev with regard to the East, South and any other Ukrainian region. We noted that in one of his first interviews Petro Poroshenko stated that he will speak in favour of ending the "counter-terrorism operation". We will monitor progress on this. He also said that there should be no illegal armed formations in any area of Ukraine – neither in the South, nor in the East or other regions. It is very important to understand how his commitment to this goal will be implemented in practice, in particular, with regard to the Right Sector, the so-called Dnieper battalion and other similar structures with very obscure legal foundations supporting their activities.

I repeat, we are not interested in declarations or specific affairs. We confirmed our readiness to assist in the settlement of the crisis in Ukraine in a constructive way many times, including support for the OSCE roadmap by the Russian leaders, which I already mentioned. We believe that it should be implemented and expect that after yesterday's voting the Ukrainian leaders will cooperate in the implementation of this document without any reservations, primarily concerning the establishment of a dialogue between regions.

Of course, we hear the statements by Petro Poroshenko regarding his intentions concerning ties with the Russian Federation, which he emphasises as "the most important". The President of Russia Vladimir Putin said many times that we are ready for a dialogue with representatives from Kiev and Petro Poroshenko. However, I would not like the willingness to hold a dialogue with Russia, which he announced, to be conditional on the mediation of the EU and the United States which he mentioned. We do not need any mediators, we are ready to cooperate with the European Union and the United States to assist the Ukrainian parties in the implementation of the roadmap, but I doubt that we need any mediators for our relations with Ukraine. I noted the statement by Vitaly Klichko that in assembling the members of the team of Petro Poroshenko which is to be formed, they are considering the possibility of including Mikhail Saakashvili in it. He definitely is not the person, who should become a mediator in relations between our countries.

I repeat, direct ties between Moscow and Kiev exist and have never been interrupted. Taking into consideration the results of the election, the outcome of which we respect, we are ready to set up a pragmatic and equal dialogue on the existing foundations, namely: the implementation of all the existing agreements, including in the areas of trade, economic and gas and in the search for mutually acceptable outcomes from the problems Russia and Ukraine are facing.

This is my first reaction to these events. We will wait for official results and statements by Petro Poroshenko as the winner in the election and then we will formulate our assessments and position in detail.

Question: On the 19 May you sent an address to international bodies (OSCE, UN and other) proposing to investigate the events on the 2 May in Odessa at international level, objectively and transparently. Have you received a reply to your address? How long do you intend to wait and what do you plan to undertake, if you receive some response?

Sergey Lavrov: We have not received an official reply yet, but such addresses were indeed sent to the UN Secretary-General and the OSCE Secretary-General. We are convinced that the possible involvement of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons can and should be used, taking into consideration the emerging facts, which should be studied and rechecked, that poisonous weapons were used in the House of Trade Unions, into which demonstrators ran away from militants. Other militants were already waiting for them in this building. At least, I believe that independent international bodies cannot disregard the testimonies of witnesses in the mass media, including TV, who tell, how this happened, how the hands of an Orthodox priest were cut away, because he appealed to the crowd to stop and not to attack the House of Trade Unions. We will try to establish the truth.

It is extremely important to establish the truth in any internal state conflict, if we want national reconciliation. This concerns the so-called "sniper case" and the terrible tragedy in Odessa. We believe that all these tragic episodes must be investigated without prejudice. I have no answer yet, how this all happened. The Ukrainian authorities state that they will do everything themselves and reject any cooperation with international organisations, as far as I understand. However, the UN and the OSCE, taking into consideration the important resonance of these crimes, must insist and request from the Ukrainian authorities that they ensure transparency of the investigation, its independent nature, involving professional experts, who are able to help to establish the truth, if necessary. We will try to accomplish it.