BRUSSELS, October 15 (Itar-Tass) - Russia and the United States have reached the agreements over the chemical weapons in Syria thanks to the transition to a qualitatively new level of diplomacy, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at the Royal Institute for International Relations, also known as the Egmont Institute, here on Tuesday.
“The development of Russian-U.S. proposals, which are based on the agreement between the presidents of Russia and the U.S., fairly sets an example of this fruitful diplomatic work,” Lavrov said. The joint proposals “paved the way for the decision taken by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the resolution adopted by the U.N. Security Council and set the framework for the activity to destroy the chemical weapons in Syria. I will underscore that this result had been achieved thanks to the transition to a qualitatively new level of diplomacy, when the creation of coalitions against someone is not the goal, but the taking of joint actions for the sake of resolving tasks common for everybody and the search for responses to global challenges are the aim,” the Russian foreign minister stated.
Iranian nuclear program
Russia urges its western partners to seize an opportunity in the settlement of Iran’s nuclear problem, Lavrov said.
“We were saying from the very beginning that all participants in the negotiations must clearly state to Iran that they are not pursuing the aim of regime change, and that after all issues are cleared up with the IAEA all restrictions will be lifted,” the foreign minister said.
“And there is an impression that in the present conditions the participants in the talks realize the importance of seizing an opportunity to make that step and settle the nuclear problem of Iran,” Lavrov said, adding that the decision should be collective.
Use of force
Unilateral force actions result in drastic aggravation of instability on both regional and global level, Foreign Minister said.
In his words, there is no proof that the use of force in international affairs helps to minimize civil casualties. “Let us take in this connection Libya, Afghanistan, and especially Iraq, where terrorist acts daily claiming dozens of human lives have become an everyday reality, which has lost its topicality for both Western politicians and the Western media,” Lavrov said. “And another absolute truth: unilateral force actions lead to abrupt aggravation of instability both on the regional and on the global level.”
“Developments of the latest years provide numerous evidence proving that not a single state or a groups of states has resources enough to solve international problems by means of imposing its will on others,” he stressed. “Efficient global governance can be ensure only on the basis of accord between the leading centres of power and influence of the current world, and it means that it is an objective call of the time to respect civilizational modes of live of other peoples, their right to decide their own fate.”