Speech of and answers to questions of mass media by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during joint press conference summarizing the results of negotiations with Foreign Minister of Hungary János Martonyi, Budapest, 2 May 2013

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Adding to the words of Minister János Martonyi, I will note that I am very thankful to my colleague for his invitation to visit Hungary. Our today's conversation with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and our detailed negotiations with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary were rather productive. We noted that the agreements reached between Viktor Orbán and Vladimir Putin on 31 January in Moscow are being consistently implemented. Specific steps for further consolidation of partnership in economics, politics, at the international arena, in the humanitarian sphere were coordinated. We paid particular attention to the energy field – the determination to fully implement the "South Stream" project was confirmed by both parties.

Prospects of building up cooperation in other spheres, including investments and high tech were considered. We agreed that the work of the Intergovernmental commission the co-chairs of which have already met – and they are considerable – will contribute to the implementation of these opportunities. Another session is scheduled for autumn.

We welcome the active activity of Hungarian business in Russia, primarily in Russian regions. Hungarian colleagues plan to open shopping centres in different regions, including Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, Krasnodar, Rostov-on-Don. Such shopping centre has been opened in Moscow just recently.

In the humanitarian sphere, we highlighted the importance of activity of such structures such as the Association of Friendship between Russia and Hungary. We are pleased that Hungary has a growing interest in studying Russian, and we would like to support this interest on mutual grounds, including studying Hungarian in Russia. As my colleague has said, both parties have interest to building up educational exchanges to increase the number of Russian students studying in Hungary and Hungarian students studying in Russia.

We noted first advances in the sphere of interaction on innovation processes, including nano-technologies, and emphasized mutual interest in building scientific exchanges and mutual scientific projects.

We value the constructive position of Hungary in issues of partnership between Russia and the European Union, including the advancement to the visa free regime. We exchanged opinions about the agenda of the NATO-Russia Council and discussed topical issues of the international agenda.

I think that our today's negotiations with the Prime Minister and my colleague Foreign Minister will actually contribute to the advancement of the course coordinated at the meeting between the President of Russia and the Prime Minister of Hungary.

Question (addressed to János Martonyi): Relations between Russia and countries of the European Union are inseparable from the Europe-wide context. How can you explain the retardation of the process of rapprochement between Russia and the EU?

Sergey Lavrov (answers after János Martonyi): I will agree to my colleague that it is not worth talking about the retardation of the process of consolidation of partnership between Russia and the European Union. Problems always occur when relations are substantial and rich. We gradually, but rather steadily advance in our dialog with the EU regarding setting of the remaining issues. I think they will all be solved.

For instance, we have now issues to be solved in connection with the "EU's Third Energy Package". But we need to primarily take into account that our energy dialog with the European Union has a very rich experience and rather serious stability. The first thread of the "Nord Stream" was launched at the end of the last year, the "South Stream" is beginning to implement. The construction of the Baltic NPP will help solve the problem of the expected deficit of electric energy in the Baltic countries, Poland and Germany.

We are working on the agreement concerning synchronization of the work of power systems of Russia, Belarus and the Baltic countries. The "roadmap" of the development of energy dialog between Russia and the EU till 2050 was adopted this March. I reckon, that the problems that our colleagues try to artificially create in connection with the "Third Energy Package", will be resolved. At least, Russian Federation transferred specific propositions on how to do it to the European Commission in December 2012. The main thing is that the parties strictly guide themselves by binding legal obligations and do not retrospectively adopt new decisions of any of these countries.

Russia and the EU have rather prospective lines of cooperation within the framework of the "Partnership for Modernisation". There are shifts in the work on the new Basic partnership agreement. The work on further liberalization of the visa regime is at the final line. Both parties implement mutually coordinated measures the performance of which will allow to completely refuse from the visa regime for short travels of citizens of Russia and the EU. Therefore, I think that the rumours about the crisis in relations between Russia and the EU are greatly exaggerated.

Question: What is the agenda of your forthcoming meeting with the US Secretary of State John Kerry in Moscow? What do you expect from it and is progress expected in settling the Syrian crisis possible?

Sergey Lavrov: The position of Russia and the USA concerning the Syrian problem is certainly of vital importance, but not everything depends on our two countries. It is important that all the "external players" strictly guide themselves by the agreements fixed in the Geneva Communiqué of 30 June 2012. First of all, they need to refuse from preconditions and artificial pretences to drag on direct negotiations between the government and the opposition.

The agenda of our negotiations with John Kerry will certainly include issues related to the strategic stability in all its aspects, including AMD. We are currently preparing the answer of the President of the Russian Federation to the message sent to him by the US President Barack Obama in the middle of the last month. Negotiations with John Kerry will be certainly valuable for us to prepare the answer that is as specific as possible. All other issues of the bilateral agenda and problems of international relations will also be in the agenda of our negotiations.

Question (unofficial translation from English): How does Russia access the use of chemical weapons in Syria? Will it affect the position of your country to the Syrian problem, if the available facts are confirmed?

Sergey Lavrov (unofficial translation from English): I think that we cannot think in "if" terms here. This is a special situation. Chemical weapon or a chemical substance was allegedly used near Aleppo in the middle of this March, and the Syrian government reported about it to the UN Secretary-General. SAR government requested the UN Secretary-General to form a group for investigation of this case. The General Secretary announced that he was ready to do it, but several days later sent a letter to the Syrian government requesting to provide international experts access to any site in the Syrian territory this group wishes to visit, to any natural person it wished to communicate with.

This changes the meaning of the task of an immediate investigation of this case of use of a chemical substance. A general permit to unhindered access to any site and person in Syria resembles the UNSC resolution on Iraq – we all remember the end of this story.

Thus, we insist on satisfaction of the Syrian request about sending a group of experts for investigating this particular case that took place in the middle of March near Aleppo and was reported.