Moscow is interested in lasting long-term and close relations with the European Union and is optimistic about their prospects, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.
“After the events around South Ossetia the EU has somewhat reduced the intensity of our cooperation – talks on a new basic agreement and preparations for the launch of new directions of cooperation were frozen,” the Russian minister said in an interview with the Finish Helsingin Sanomat newspaper.
“The situation when some members of the European Union want to make the whole range of Russia-EU relations hostage to the Caucasian crisis, gives rise to certain concern,” the top Russian diplomat added. “At the same time we are not making a tragedy of that,” Lavrov stressed.
The foreign minister said Moscow “appreciates a bid of the European Union to contribute to political settlement, the establishment of lasting peace, security and stability in the South Caucasus”.
“The agreements of presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Nicholas Sarkozy envisage the role of the EU as guarantor of the non-use of force by the Georgian side,” he reminded the readers. “This is a clear evidence of the possibility of effective European decisions,” he said. “We shall deepen our relations with Europe in the sphere of security, they have a good future,” Lavrov stressed.
He stated that “passions have now calmed down a bit”. “We begin to receive signals that the EU intends to continue cooperation and conduct affairs ‘as usual’,” he stressed. “We can only welcome such a mood and state our bid to turn the page and boost cooperation,” he added. As an example, Lavrov mentioned the signing of an agreement on Russia’s participation in EU’s military operations in Chad and the Central African Republic.
“Moscow is interested in lasting long-term and close relations with the EU as a strategic partner, and on the whole it is optimistic about their prospects,” he stressed.
On the part of Russia there are “no obstacles for a full-format development in all directions,” he stressed. Lavrov expressed hope that the upcoming Russia-EU summit in Nice “will give a new impetus to the whole range of our cooperation”. “I am confident that it is in our common interests,” he said.
Besides, Lavrov marked the role of the Finnish chairmanship of the OSCE in the settlement of the conflict in the Caucasus. “My colleague, Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, actively participated in ‘shuttle diplomacy’,” he said. “However, the OSCE instruments have demonstrated their weak efficiency,” he added.
“The organization failed to prevent a barbarous attack of Georgia against the residents of South Ossetia and Russian peacekeepers or even give a proper assessment to the events,” he stressed.
“All of us, including the acting chairmanship, found ourselves in this case ‘hostages’ to crisis phenomena in the OSCE, marginalization of the organization’s role in the international policy,” Lavrov said.
According to him, “this is the result of different ideas of the member states about its role and mission, incompleteness of the institutional construction, the lack of common clear rules of the work and organizational ‘laxity’”.
