Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks at a joint news conference following talks with Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, Manama, May 31, 2022

Esteemed Mr Minister, my dear friend,

Ladies and gentlemen.

I would like to sincerely thank our Bahraini friends once again for the wonderfully warm, and trust-based reception and excellent organisation of our delegation’s stay. I would like to make special mention of our meeting with His Majesty the King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, which was devoted to the strategic review of our relations. They were based, in part, on His Majesty’s contacts with President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin over the past few years and their telephone conversation in March of this year during which they discussed, in principle, the entire package of bilateral ties and international developments.

We had a useful meeting with Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa and continued our discussions with my colleague and friend, Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani.

In early April, we met in Moscow and held an open and practical dialogue. The regularity of our communication shows once again the need to maintain contact in this difficult time, to continuously compare our positions and seek opportunities for developing relations in this changing environment.

We discussed in detail issues of trade and economic cooperation. Our trade is growing but the modest figures do not suit either our friends or Russia’s economic operators. We agreed to promote the implementation of our joint industrial, transport and pharmaceutical projects and to make better use of the opportunities suggested by the Intergovernmental Russia-Bahrain Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation. It is scheduled to meet for a regular session in Manama next year.

We expressed satisfaction with the efforts of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and the Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company to promote investment cooperation. Our Bahraini friends have doubled their contribution to this joint investment platform. This important step will produce positive results.

We agreed to develop delegation exchanges and encourage direct contact between our businesses. We discussed a number of potential projects we could implement together in third countries. We appreciate our humanitarian contacts as well as our cooperation in science and education. There are about a hundred Bahraini students at Russian universities, mostly working towards the medical professions. We reaffirmed our willingness to increase the number of education grants for our Bahraini friends.

We have impressive plans on carrying out cooperative cultural projects. These include the Days of Russian Culture in Manama this year, a bilateral forum “Diversity of Cultures as a Foundation for Dialogue, a Museum Road Show in Bahrain and a Russian Film Festival. These events will promote interest among our people and will facilitate the development of our contacts.

We agreed to take measures in many areas to complete the work on the agreements designed to strengthen our contractual foundation. We reviewed the international agenda. We are holding close consultations on a broad range of issues.

We focused on the developments in the Middle East and North Africa, primarily the protracted Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The failure to settle this has kept this hotbed of tensions alive for many decades. It is a source of serious concern in connection with the recent events on Palestinian territory, including Jerusalem. We discussed the need to resume direct talks between Palestine and Israel. There is a legal foundation for this – the Arab Peace Initiative – that has been endorsed by everyone, including the UN. We consider it very important to step up efforts in this area, including by the Middle East Quartet of international mediators and the Arab League. It is necessary to create conditions for the earliest possible resumption of dialogue and the start of progress towards the two-state solution. Like our Bahraini friends, we are concerned about the persisting lack of Palestinian unity. We are doing much to help the Palestinians overcome this split with a view to creating the necessary conditions for the beginning of serious talks on a settlement.

We discussed Syria and talked about the need to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2254. We highlighted Russia's efforts to accomplish this, including as part of the Astana format with our Iranian and Turkish partners.

We described our efforts to create the best working conditions for the Constitutional Committee, which the government and opposition delegations use to discuss their country’s future. We addressed many other aspects of the Syrian crisis as well. In many ways, these issues will lend themselves to a better solution if Syria rejoins the League of Arab States and the Arab family. Our positions are overlapping. We will continue to encourage this commitment going forward.

On a broader plane, we discussed the situation in the Gulf and the need to ensure reliable security for the Arab states in the Gulf and the Islamic Republic of Iran. For many years now, Russia has been promoting the Collective Security Concept for the Persian Gulf. Six months ago, the document was revised and a series of meetings were held with the participation of experts from the Gulf countries. We will continue to work towards ensuring stability, peace and mutual trust in the region. Our concept includes a set of steps to this end.

We updated our counterpart on Russia’s involvement in the efforts to resume the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iranian nuclear programme. The United States’ attempt to negotiate additional conditions has created some obstacles since it altered the original design and content of the JCPOA approved by the UN Security Council. We believe that the JCPOA must be resumed without any omissions or additions if we want to keep things fair.

We mentioned the situation in Yemen. We support the UN-sponsored efforts which received another positive boost following Saudi Arabia’s initiative in the wake of the announced truce. We hope this will be renewed.

We covered in depth the situation in Ukraine. At the request of our friends, we updated them on the latest developments, including food supplies, in particular, measures that Russia has been taking for over a month now to guarantee unfettered Ukrainian grain exports with ships that are locked in Ukrainian ports. To do so, Ukraine must clear the mines in the coastal waters of its territorial sea. If the mines are cleared (we have been talking about this for many weeks now with our Western colleagues who are concerned about this situation), Russia’s Navy will ensure unhindered passage of these ships to the Mediterranean and on to their destinations. The current initiatives on ensuring food security should be implemented with consideration for the fact that Russia has long guaranteed everything in its power. Western countries, which have artificially created several problems by closing their ports to Russian ships and disrupting supply and financial chains, should seriously think about what is more important to them: to use food security as a media stunt or to overcome the challenge with concrete steps. It's up to them.

His Majesty and the Crown Prince, as well as my colleague and friend, were interested in our overall analysis of the situation in Europe and the international arena. Our friends have an understanding that the Ukraine crisis is a reflection of much broader processes. We shared information on efforts made by our country over the past 15 years to reliably ensure security in Europe and the Euro-Atlantic region.

We covered in depth the outcomes of our numerous initiatives addressed to NATO members and directly to the United States, which, unfortunately, failed to receive respectful consideration or response. This situation showed that our Western partners prefer to conduct business on the basis of diktat and their unbending conviction that they are destined to rule the world rather than on the basis of equality and the principles of the UN Charter, including the principle of respect for the sovereign equality of all countries. Now, the concept of unipolarity is being promoted at full speed. We will continue to uphold the principles of international law and the UN Charter which are being violated by our Western colleagues. Instead of international law, they put forward the concept of a rules-based order. According to this concept, the West is making every decision with NATO (no longer a defensive alliance by any stretch of the imagination) as it plays the role of global policeman. NATO provides global security, including, as they say, in the Indo-Pacific region, and it openly declares the need to contain China and Russia. The concept of a rules-based order suggests that Western dominance is built on the United States calling all the shots.

This dialogue is helpful. I think that political science platforms around the world that are interested in promoting a mutually respectful dialogue to find consensus and compromises are better suited to current needs than what the Munich Security Conference has come down to, becoming a conduit for Western concepts and theories.

We noted the productive role of the Manama Dialogue which is a traditional political science platform whose purpose is to bring approaches closer, to bring on the individuals representing different points of view, and to seek a balance of interests. This is what Russia’s foreign policy is all about.

We are grateful to our friends in Bahrain for their balanced and sensible positions aimed at achieving results on all issues covered today rather than fomenting confrontation and passion.

Thank you very much for the excellent reception.