Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's statement and answers to media questions during a joint news conference following talks with Deputy Chairperson of the Council of Ministers and Foreign Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bisera Turkovic, Sochi, December 21, 2021

Ladies and gentlemen,

I had talks with Deputy Chairperson of the Council of Ministers and Foreign Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bisera Turkovic. The talks were productive and held in a candid and friendly manner.

Minister Turkovic's visit is timed to coincide with a significant date in our relations. In a few days, we will mark 25 years of diplomatic ties between Russia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. We welcomed progress in our relations across all areas, which include political dialogue, inter-parliamentary contacts and inter-regional and inter-municipal ties, and highlighted intensive cooperation between many universities in Russia and BiH.

Madam Minister informed me about an important decision that was taken in response to Russia’s request. I’m talking about the leadership of Bosnia and Herzegovina agreeing to open a branch of the Russian Embassy in Banja Luka.

We agreed to step up work on 12 drafts agreements and treaties that will expand the legal framework underlying our interaction.

Trade and economic ties are important. Russia is one of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s leading trade and investment partners. After a minor decline in 2020, trade grew by over 85 percent in the first nine months of this year.

The co-chairs of the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation met in October to outline ways to promote our interaction.

We emphasised the importance of implementing major projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina by Gazprom Neft, Sberbank, Zarubezhneft and other Russian operators.

Cultural ties are expanding. We are very happy that increasing numbers of Bosnians are interested in learning Russian and getting a higher education in our country. In this regard, we will increase the number of scholarships provided to students from Bosnia and Herzegovina by 50 percent in the upcoming academic year.

Russia’s Spiritual Culture Days were held in Sarajevo in November. They confirmed a keen interest in the cultural and historical heritage of the peoples of our country. We are grateful to our friends in BiH for their willingness to support our request to open a Russian Cultural Centre.

We have strong cooperation through our representatives at the UN, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe. We discussed the situation in the Western Balkans. We reiterated our support for the fundamental common framework agreement on peace - the Dayton Agreement - which codified independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of BiH, the equality of the three state-forming peoples and the corresponding constitutional powers of the two entities.

We are convinced that Bosnia and Herzegovina is an established state and the foundations laid down by the Dayton Agreement must be fully respected. Undoubtedly, we consider the attempts to manage processes in this sovereign country from the outside an atavism which must be eliminated immediately.

We also discussed the general situation in the Balkans. Russia reaffirmed its commitment to further facilitate the solution to any problems arising here based on a mutually respectful dialogue at the regional level with an eye towards overcoming existing differences exclusively through political and diplomatic means.

We agreed to maintain close communication on the basis of the Plan of Consultations between our ministries that was signed in Sarajevo in 2020. Consultations at the level of deputy ministers and directors of the corresponding departments are pending.

I am sincerely grateful to Bisera Turkovic and her delegation for the productive work.

Question: On December 26, it will be 25 years since Russia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) established diplomatic relations. What can you say about Russia’s role in settling the situation in BiH now and in the future?

Sergey Lavrov: I would like to thank Bisera Turkovic for her high praise of Russia’s role in the implementation of the Dayton Agreement and, in general, in the development of BiH as an independent and sovereign state.

When I was Russia’s permanent ambassador to the UN, BiH was elected a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council in the late 1990s. Twenty years have passed since then but the protectorate over BiH is still preserved as the Office of the High Representative. The Peace Implementation Council, of which Russia is a member, made a decision in the late 2000s to curtail this office (a decision was adopted in 2006 and a programme in 2008) to enable the Bosnians themselves to resolve their national development issues. Certain terms were formulated but the Bosnians themselves were supposed to resolve their issues and fulfil the terms. This was not a task for the High Representative. Moreover, we do not think the current office-holder, Christian Schmidt, is in there legitimately, because he was not appointed by the consensus of all three state-forming nations and the Peace Implementation Council and approved by the UN Security Council.

As a matter of principle, only the people of BiH have the right to decide their destiny in accordance with the Constitution’s provisions on the distribution of powers and making decisions. With respect to the part that depends on us, Russia will do all it can to facilitate these developments and reach consensus on all issues. Our Bosnian friends are aware of this.

Question: Yesterday, Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov had a telephone conversation with National Security Advisor to the US President Jake Sullivan. Following the conversation, US officials stated that they are open to dialogue with Russia on security guarantees in bilateral and multilateral formats, provided Washington’s concerns are taken into account. They are going to present a list of their own concerns. Does Moscow consider this Washington’s statement a response to our proposals on security guarantees? What does Moscow think about the proposed dialogue formats? Is it ready to consider Washington’s concerns?

Sergey Lavrov: Of course, this is a response to our proposals, but only on the organisational side of things for the time being – US willingness to start dialogue on bilateral issues and Russia-NATO relations. These matters must be seriously discussed within the framework of the OSCE at some point. It is there that the Euro-Atlantic countries, at the top level, signed onto the principle of equal and indivisible security, in accordance with which all OSCE countries pledged not to advance their own security at the expense of the others’ security. We have an understanding on formats and departments that will be represented at the future talks. The main point is to start them on a practical level.

Are we ready to discuss Washington’s concerns? We are ready to discuss everything, but we haven’t received them so far.

Question: France and Germany have said that they are ready to go back to the Normandy format to discuss the situation in Ukraine. When and where can such a meeting take place?

Sergey Lavrov: I haven’t heard such statements. If they have indeed made them and mentioned that the purpose of the initiative was to discuss the situation in Ukraine, we would like to understand what exactly they are talking about. If it is about implementing the Minsk Agreements, a draft document should be worked out to be discussed at the next Normandy format meeting (which the Germans and French, according to you, are proposing).

When this topic was being discussed a couple of months ago, we conveyed our vision of the results of a possible meeting. Paris and Berlin refused to discuss it. Our proposals were built in full conformity with the Minsk Agreements both in essence and in terms of the succession of steps. There is an impression that this initiative aims not so much at ensuring Kiev’s compliance with its obligations, which it keeps neglecting, but rather at trying to dilute the Minsk Agreements and making it easier for Kiev to dodge the implementation of the documents it had signed, which were approved by the UNSC.

Many Ukrainian leaders officially state that the Minsk Agreements are obsolete and should be replaced, and that a new negotiation format is needed. President Vladimir Zelensky and his staff, ministers and government members said publicly a number of times that they would not have any dialogue with Donetsk and Lugansk. Nobody in Berlin or Paris reined them in for making such statements, which directly undermine the fundamental principle of the Minsk Agreements. Our German and French colleagues kept silent even in the situation when Vladimir Zelensky, a president of a multilingual country, stated in an interview that if some Ukrainian citizens want to speak Russian and consider themselves Russian, they should clear out to “their Russia.” This was stated publicly. We brought the outrageous statements by the Ukrainian leader to the attention of our colleagues in Paris and Berlin. They kept an embarrassed silence and no response followed. We want to understand what they intend to discuss when they speak about the need to convene in the Normandy format.

Question: Yesterday, you met with foreign ministers of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. What did you discuss? Did you talk about Russia’s relations with these republics in the event of Georgia’s accession to NATO?

Sergey Lavrov: We discussed the entire range of our relations. Abkhazia and South Ossetia are our allies. This status is fixed in the corresponding treaties that were signed in 2014 and 2015. These treaties clearly set the task of developing allied relations and deepen integration. Proceeding from these treaties, Russia has coordinated over 100 documents with each of these independent states. We are expanding our economic, investment, social and humanitarian cooperation. We are ensuring the security of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. We have Russian military bases there in accordance with the signed treaties. They reliably meet the requirements of our allies in ensuring the security of their borders. We will firmly abide by our allied commitments.

We did not discuss hypothetical scenarios, including attempts to force Georgia into NATO despite the will of a large part of its population. Our position on NATO’s expansion is well known. If the alliance continues moving closer to the borders of the Russian Federation, it will be crossing a red line.   Following the instructions of President of Russia Vladimir Putin, we made proposals on ensuring Russia’s security in the context of overall security in the entire Euro-Atlantic region. They clearly show our view of the situation and demonstrate Russia’s sincere desire to prevent negative developments under the scenarios that are drawn by certain NATO strategists.

Question: How is the Foreign Ministry protecting the rights of the Russian citizens who are involved in incidents during their stay in Abkhazia for different reasons and those who have bought property or are doing business there?

Sergey Lavrov: I don’t remember any serious problems in South Ossetia. There were cases in Abkhazia when Russian tourists got into trouble. The property of Russian citizens is also subjected to actions that are not quite legitimate. There were questions about the activities of entrepreneurs. Our Abkhazian colleagues understand the need to step up their efforts in all of these areas. This concerns criminal offences committed against Russian tourists and the property of our citizens.

The Commission on Protecting the Property Rights of Russian Citizens in the Republic of Abkhazia was set up long ago. It has recently held a regular session. Its participants adopted positive decisions on the return of property to many Russian nationals. However, this is not yet the ultimate resolution of the problem. Foreign Minister of Abkhazia Inal Ardzinba assured us that the leaders of the country and Sukhum will do all they can to resolve these issues once and for all.

An Abkhasian court of law will soon resolve the case of one Russian businessman, which has been in the works since 2016. He opened a production line in Abkhazia, which was captured by raiders. Our numerous appeals to the relevant agencies of Abkhazia have finally produced results. A positive verdict on compensation was passed by a court. Now it is necessary to wait for the completion of this process.

Talking to our Abkhazian friends, I emphasised that the appeal of the Abkhasian market for Russian investment will directly depend on how such cases are reviewed and settled. The young Republic needs it.

Overall, they heard us. We will continue working in all of these areas.