- Title: RUSSIA: Russia will not change position on Syria
- Date: 14th December 2012
- Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (DECEMBER 14, 2012) (REUTERS) RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN ALEXANDER LUKASHEVICH ENTERING ROOM FOR NEWS CONFERENCE CAMERAMAN FILMING (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN ALEXANDER LUKASHEVICH, SAYING: "To avoid any double meaning, this all is very clear. Mr Bogdanov once again has reaffirmed our principled position in favour of the speedy implementation of the consensus agreements reached in Geneva on June 30." JOURNALISTS TAKING NOTES (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN ALEXANDER LUKASHEVICH, SAYING: "The official U.S. State Department spokeswoman (Victoria Nuland) quoted this and was excitingly talking that Moscow finally woke up and was changing its position (on Syria). I would like to say that we've never been sleeping in the first place, and we have never changed our position and we will not change it." JOURNALISTS LISTENING AND TAKING NOTES (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN ALEXANDER LUKASHEVICH, SAYING: "We are not holding this kind of talks (about Assad's exit) either with Americans or in any other formats. We are looking scrupulously and insistently for any ways for the political resolution in Syria." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN ALEXANDER LUKASHEVICH, SAYING: "We hope that as a result of the legal process, obviously under condition of its being unbiased and transparent, all the facts will be finally established, and all the baseless allegations about some kind of a Russian involvement in this (Litvinenko) affair will be dispelled once and for all." JOURNALIST LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN ALEXANDER LUKASHEVICH, SAYING: "We will obviously react to the so-called Magnitsky list. Those in the USA who are promoting this cynical campaign should not forget one old but very relevant now truth: as the call, so the echo. It is premature to announce any specific names, but I'd like to ensure you that our list will contain not some hypothetical, but rather specific people guilty of violating rights of Russian citizens, guilty of abusing them, and especially abusing children adopted from Russia." JOURNALIST LISTENING LUKASHEVICH ENDING NEWS BRIEFING
- Embargoed: 29th December 2012 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Russian Federation
- Country: Russia
- Topics: International Relations,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA5EMOQFZFP3KSB7V3H99AX0ARC
- Story Text: Russia denied on Friday (December 14) that it has changed its position on Syria, trying to dampen speculation that remarks by a senior envoy point to policy differences in Moscow as the civil war turns against President Bashar al-Assad.
Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, a Kremlin envoy to the Middle East, made unusually pessimistic assessment of the situation in Syria on Thursday (December 13) when he acknowledged that Assad's opponents might win.
The United States said the remarks showed Moscow was "finally waking up to reality". But Russia's Foreign Ministry said he had merely reiterated Moscow's view that any resolution of the conflict in Syria must not be based on Assad's departure.
"To avoid any double meaning, this all is very clear. Mr Bogdanov once again has reaffirmed our principled position in favour of the speedy implementation of the consensus agreements reached in Geneva on June 30," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told a news conference.
"The official U.S. State Department spokeswoman (Victoria Nuland) quoted this and was excitingly talking that Moscow finally woke up and was changing its position (on Syria). I would like to say that we've never been sleeping in the first place, and we have never changed our position and we will not change it," Lukashevich added.
His comments followed a ministry statement that also dismissed any talk of a change in policy, and he reiterated that Moscow was not discussing Assad's future or ways to get him out of Syria.
Russia, which is Syria's largest arms supplier, has with China shielded Assad from censure in three consecutive U.N. Security Council resolutions.
Its policy hinges on an international agreement reached in Geneva this year that calls for a transitional government to be set up in Syria but leaves open the question of what part Moscow's ally, Assad, might play in the process.
Bogdanov's comments, made during a discussion by experts on Syria and the Middle East in Moscow, raised questions about whether Russia is pursuing one policy in private and another in public as Assad's chances of staying in power appear to recede.
It has also fuelled talk of potential differences in Moscow over the situation on the ground in Syria, where the 20-month-old civil war has killed at least 40,000 people.
Lukashevich said Bogdanov's remarks followed the same "logic" as the Russian position that no deal should be predicated by Assad's departure.
He also denied Moscow holds any talks about Assad's exit.
"We are not holding this kind of talks (about Assad's exit) either with Americans or in any other formats. We are looking scrupulously and insistently for any ways for the political resolution in Syria," Lukashevich said.
He also denied that Russia was involved in the death of Kremlin critic and former spy Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.
Litvinenko, who had been granted British citizenship and become a vocal critic of the Kremlin, died in November 2006 after someone slipped polonium-210, a rare radioactive isotope, into his cup of tea at a London hotel.
A British lawyer had told a preliminary hearing into Litvinenko's poisoning on Thursday that there was evidence the Russian government was involved in his death, which has soured relations between Moscow and London.
"We hope that as a result of the legal process, obviously under condition of its being unbiased and transparent, all the facts will be finally established, and all the baseless allegations about some kind of a Russian involvement in this (Litvinenko) affair will be dispelled once and for all," Alexander Lukashevich said.
He also commented on U.S. legislation meant to punish Russian violators of human rights.
The U.S. Senate last week adopted legislation requiring the United States to deny visas and freeze assets of people involved in the prison death of Russian anti-graft lawyer Sergei Magnitsky and other alleged rights violators.
President Barack Obama is expected to sign it into law soon.
Putin warned the Magnitsky Act would further strain a relationship tested by the conflict in Syria and the treatment of critics of the Kremlin since his return to the presidency in May.
Alexander Lukashevich said the reaction from Moscow will follow shortly.
"We will obviously react to the so-called Magnitsky list. Those in the USA who are promoting this cynical campaign should not forget one old but very relevant now truth: as the call, so the echo. It is premature to announce any specific names, but I'd like to ensure you that our list will contain not some hypothetical, but rather specific people guilty of violating rights of Russian citizens, guilty of abusing them, and especially abusing children adopted from Russia," Lukashevich said.
A retaliatory bill was debated on Friday in Russia's lower house, the State Duma. It would bar entry to Americans deemed to have violated the rights of Russian citizens abroad.
Pro-Kremlin deputies said the bill debated in the first of three readings on Friday, may be named after Dima Yakovlev, an 18-month Russian infant who died after his adoptive U.S. family left him locked in a vehicle in Virginia in 2008.
Putin criticised U.S. authorities for their handling of cases involving violence against adopted Russian children. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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