RUSSIA-ITALY/LAVROV-GENTILONI Russia's Lavrov meets Italy's Gentiloni, criticises EU for publishing travel ban list

Record ID: 149763

  • Title: RUSSIA-ITALY/LAVROV-GENTILONI Russia's Lavrov meets Italy's Gentiloni, criticises EU for publishing travel ban list
  • Date: 1st June 2015
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (JUNE 1, 2015) (REUTERS) RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER, SERGEI LAVROV, AND ITALY'S FOREIGN MINISTER, PAOLO GENTILONI, ENTERING ROOM FOR TALKS PHOTOGRAPHERS RUSSIAN AND ITALIAN DELEGATIONS TAKING SEATS LAVROV SPEAKING TALKS IN PROGRESS GENTILONI LISTENING MEETING IN PROGRESS MEDIA GENLITONI SPEAKING JOURNALISTS LAVROV AND GENTILONI ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE CAM
  • Embargoed: 16th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA3KG5LL1D1YJHGWJ9EHGS39SEU
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met his Italian counterpart Paolo Gentiloni in Moscow on Monday (June 1) to discuss bilateral relations between the two countries as well as the burning issues of the international agenda.
    "In the recent years we have never made a secret of our opinions and the fact that there are disagreements between our positions, including the ones on the Ukrainian issue, but we have never thought that disagreements of this kind should lead to freezing of relations between Italy, Europe and Russia. This would be in nobody's interest," Gentiloni told a news conference after the talks.
    He added that after a meeting with Italian businessmen in Moscow he was confident they want to continue their work in Russia and search for the new opportunities.
    ''Clearly there are difficulties, but there are also great opportunities that stem from the Russian government's policies towards the diversification and development of the national economy of this great country. And this is a factor that multiplies opportunities for our businesses," Gentiloni said.
    Speaking alongside Gentiloni, whose country is one of the migrants' most popular destinations, Lavrov said any U.N. Security Council resolution allowing for the use of force in the Mediterranean to stop gangs smuggling migrants must define the powers of an EU naval mission precisely to win Moscow's backing.
    He also said Russia was disappointed with Europe's reaction to its move to ban dozens of European officials from visiting Russia.
    "And if we speak about this story, we didn't want to make it public. Obviously we could not break the main law of international relations, the principle of reciprocity. And when the EU have introduced their sanctions against 150 Russians, we did the same thing but towards a much smaller number of citizens of the European Union member states," Lavrov said.
    "We have handed this list over at a request of the EU on a basis of confidentiality. And it became a subject of a media leak immediately. And the European Union which normally does not comment on the leaks did happily comment on it. So I also see some violation of ethical norms here," he added.
    Lavrov also explained that those who are on the travel ban list were in Moscow's view supporting events in Ukraine that toppled Ukraine's pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovich in February 2014.
    "So the counter-sanctions were introduced against those individuals who most actively supported the coup (in Ukraine) which resulted in Russians in Ukraine becoming subjects of repressions and discrimination," Lavrov said.
    Russia blames the crisis in Ukraine on what it sees as heavy-handed meddling by the United States in a region Moscow has traditionally seen as its sphere of influence.
    The West, in turn, accuses Russia of backing the separatists with weapons and troops, charges Moscow denies. More than 6,100 people have been killed in the conflict since April 2014.
    The Ukraine crisis has plunged relations between Russia and the West into their worst crisis since the end of the Cold War, but the United States needs Russian cooperation to tackle a host of other global issues including Iran and the Syrian conflict.
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