Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and replies to media questions at a joint news conference following talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt Sameh Shoukry, Moscow, March 16, 2016

Ladies and gentlemen,

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt Sameh Shoukry and I have had substantive talks.

We focused primarily on the situation in the Middle East and North Africa, which today are torn by too many conflicts. Terrorism and extremism are on the rise in this region and are spreading to more and more countries.

Russia and Egypt reiterated their principled positions regarding the fact that all problems in the Middle East and North Africa should be resolved exclusively based on international law through dialogue, which should include all political forces of any given country and be aimed at achieving national consensus. In this context, we have confirmed our satisfaction with the positive developments in Egypt. Last year, that country held parliamentary elections, which successfully completed the political process started by the authorities of the Arab Republic of Egypt in the summer of 2013. We want the stable situation in Egypt to positively impact other countries in the region.

We have a common position with regard to the Syria crisis, which we have repeatedly stated. Only the Syrian people can decide the future of their country. This is enshrined in the documents of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) and several UN Security Council resolutions. The implementation of this principle and the resolutions should provide a comfortable and safe life for all groups of population, the return of refugees, and the reconstruction of the country. We agreed to continue closely cooperating within the ISSG in the context of positive changes that have taken place lately. I’m referring to progress in implementing the Russian-American initiative, which was supported by ISSG, concerning the cessation of hostilities, the expansion of humanitarian access to needy populations, and the beginning of a political process. There’s progress in all these areas. We hope this success (we should be careful when we talk about it) will be consolidated in the course of the Geneva talks, which will continue this and next week.

We exchanged views on the situation in Yemen. We see our key goal in seeking an immediate ceasefire, resuming intra-Yemeni consultations in order to start an inclusive political process, which should result in restoring the Yemeni statehood and the rule of law in that country based on corresponding resolutions of the UN and the National Dialogue Conference. We are supportive of the efforts made in this area by UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.

We discussed the situation in the Middle East and North Africa also from the standpoint of the need to firmly oppose attempts to foment sectarian conflicts, including between Sunnis and Shiites. We shared our thoughts on how to overcome the lingering and, occasionally, deepening disagreements between the representatives of these two denominations of the great religion of Islam. We find understanding and support on behalf of our Egyptian colleagues.

In conjunction with Egypt, we suggest that all external players start working in a more active and coordinated manner on normalising the situation in Libya. The agreement signed in Skhirat was welcomed by the UN Security Council. The UNSC was also in favour of bringing all influential Libyan players into the national dialogue and the process of national reconciliation and consent in order to form a truly inclusive transitional government. We hope such an approach would make it possible to reverse the situation in the matter of creating a unified army and security forces, which is now the subject of a major dispute between the Libyan sides.

We focused particularly on the need to take active steps to de-escalate the current round of tensions in the Palestinian territories and Israel. It is very important to achieve agreement among Palestinians, so that all Palestinians are united on a common platform of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and Arab Peace Initiative. These same principles should apply to the resumption of the negotiation process between the Palestinians and Israelis and the resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict on a generally recognised international legal basis.

Of course, we used today's meeting to discuss bilateral cooperation, primarily in the context of implementing the agreements reached during the regular meetings of the presidents of Russia and the Arab Republic of Egypt, as well as the arrangements agreed upon at a meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation in Cairo more than a month ago.

We noted significant progress in a number of strategic areas of cooperation, including the construction of a nuclear power plant in Egypt, the creation of a Russian industrial zone and projects in the sphere of civil aviation and railway infrastructure. We expressed our satisfaction with the resumption of inter-parliamentary ties after a break. Following the visit to Egypt by Speaker of the State Duma Sergey Naryshkin in January, we agreed to establish “friendship groups” in our respective parliaments. 

We addressed the resumption of direct flights between our two countries to increase the tourist flow, which dried up for obvious reasons. We agreed to resume such flights as soon as possible, while ensuring the highest security standards for Russian citizens. We appreciate the contacts between the civil aviation services and other competent authorities of Russia and Egypt, which sought to resume direct air communication between our two countries as soon as relevant procedures are completed. Meanwhile, the Russian side is actively working on opening a General Consulate in Hurghada in 2016, which will be instrumental in promoting tourism.

Overall, we had positive talks, and I hope and believe they will contribute to the further progressive development of our multifaceted cooperation for the benefit of our peoples.

Question: Russia Today correspondents recently visited Southeastern Turkey, which is inhabited by Kurds. We went there after numerous reports about crimes committed against them by Turkish law enforcers. Our camera registered the horrible scene of the destruction of civilian residential quarters and local eyewitnesses of civilian killings. We sent all these videos to international human rights organisations but received formal replies at best. What do you think about such a response? Is it necessary to conduct an inquiry into the developments in Southeastern Turkey?

Sergey Lavrov: It is necessary to investigate any reports, all the more so buttressed by evidence, of crude and massive violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. There are relevant international procedures for that. The main thing is to use them objectively, without bias. This is our position of principle.

As for the preliminary, intermediate results of your appeals to international human rights organisations that sent you formal replies, I’d like to ask you to send us copies of addresses and received replies, so that we can express our opinion on this score.

In this connection I’d like to say the following. It is horrible when something similar happens in domestic conflicts. It is necessary to pay attention to this in strict conformity with the international commitments that relevant countries assumed on the observance of human rights and international humanitarian law.

But no less serious are such crimes when they are aggravated by the violation of sovereignty and territorial integrity of other states. Regrettably, Turkey is involved in this as well. We know what actions the Turkish armed forces are conducting in Iraq. We also know that the positions of the Kurdish fighters in Syria were shelled from Turkish territory. The Arab League passed a special resolution on Iraq and Turkey’s interference in its home affairs.

 A horrible act of terror was recently staged in Ankara, in connection with which President Vladimir Putin expressed condolences to the families and friends of those killed and solidarity with the Turkish people. The Turkish leaders announced who were to blame for this terrorist attack on the same day. There were no reports about investigation or how it was organised. Having immediately blamed Kurds for the terrorist attack under pretense that they were staged by Kurdish organisations, Turkey used this to justify continued artillery shelling and rocket strikes on Syria’s regions, which are traditionally inhabited by Kurds. I think this case requires a tough and clear response from the international community in the context of the efforts undertaken by the international community to achieve a Syrian settlement, ensure the full-fledged participation of all Syrian ethnic and religious groups in peace talks and put an end to the hostilities. Turkey’s actions are undermining these efforts, which are approved by the UN Security Council and concern issues of truce, the delivery of humanitarian relief aid and the start of the political process.

I’d like to emphasise again that if you have information that international human rights organisations do not react to incoming messages as they are supposed to do according to their charter documents, please send it to us and we will be ready to deal with these facts and express our opinion on them in more detail.

Question (addressed to Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Hassan Shoukry): Egypt is a major regional player. According to incoming reports, terrorists continue to flow through the Turkish border. What do you think about the importance of Moscow-Washington talks on countering terrorism in Syria and the rest of the region in the context of the withdrawal of Russia’s main aviation groups from Syria?

Sergey Lavrov (adds after Mr Shoukry): I can add that there is a UN Security Council resolution on the issue of foreign terrorist militants. There is also a resolution on the illegal crossing of Syria’s external frontiers with a view to sending militants into that country, and conducting illegal trafficking in return, be it oil, antiques or other values. These resolutions must be fulfilled. In accordance with them, the UN Secretary-General was instructed to report to the Security Council on all aspects of compliance with the imposed bans.  The first report was recently circulated in the Security Council. We consider it fairly vague. It is not proper to behave as an ostrich. This case is too serious to observe political correctness. Facts should be presented to Security Council members. We hope the next report will be more straightforward, substantive and honest.

Question: It would be no exaggeration to say that all of Egypt and our Russian friends are looking forward to Russia’s long-awaited decision to resume air flights and tourism with Egypt. You’ve just said that you discussed this issue with the Minister. What should our departments and organisations do to speed up Russia’s decision on this issue?

Sergey Lavrov: As I’ve already said, we discussed this issue in detail. The Russian Federation and Egypt are interested in coordinating all requirements for resuming direct air flights as soon as possible. After this horrible act of terror, Russian experts contacted their Egyptian colleagues who offered the utmost cooperation. They studied the case on the site together with Egyptian experts. As a result, our specialists issued specific recommendations, which, as they are convinced, will ensure the reliable security of Russian citizens travelling to and from Egypt by air. The Egyptian side reviewed these recommendations and practically fully supported them. Now the Russian Ministry of Transport and the Egyptian Civil Aviation Ministry are accommodating a relevant memorandum of understanding in the Russian Federation. They reached an agreement on measures to be taken to accelerate this process as much as possible. Let me repeat that we are interested in the tourist destination, which was probably the most popular among Russians, resuming its former status and in settling all problems linked with the terrorist attack as soon as possible. I’m confident that this won’t take too much time. This depends on how professionals will complete the accommodation of the approaches that both sides have already endorsed. Specialists are supposed to translate them into the practical language of procedures that are now being agreed upon.

Question: US Secretary of State John Kerry announced his intention to visit Russia next week. Are the dates of his visit already known? Do the sides plan to assess the truce in Syria?

Sergey Lavrov: We have an agreement with US Secretary of State John Kerry on his visit to the Russian Federation. He voiced this request and we agreed to hold talks at the foreign ministers’ level in Russia. Needless to say, the Syrian crisis will be in the focus, but I hope that we’ll also talk about other aspects of the situation in the Middle East and North Africa as they are all interconnected, particularly considering the fact that ISIS is striking root in more and more states.