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Albania’s liabilities to NATO not to hinder bilateral ties with Russia — Lavrov

The Russian top diplomat stressed that good relations were mutually beneficial in such spheres as trade, investments and economic cooperation

Albanian Prime Minister and Minister For Europe and Foreign Affairs Edi Rama and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Sergei Savostyanov/TASS

Albanian Prime Minister and Minister For Europe and Foreign Affairs Edi Rama and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

© Sergei Savostyanov/TASS

MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/. Albania’s liabilities to NATO and the United States should not hinder the development of bilateral relations with Russia, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday after talks with Albanian Prime Minister and Minister For Europe and Foreign Affairs Edi Rama, who is the current OSCE Chairperson-in-Office.

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"I have already said that we are ready to develop relations as actively as our Albanian colleagues find comfortable. But Mr. Prime Minister mentioned their liabilities to NATO and to the United States in particular. We are also aware of Albania’s striving to join the European Union," he noted. "We understand that. It is a political reality, but there are a lot of examples when neither of the liabilities I mentioned earlier hinder the development of normal and good relations."

The Russian top diplomat stressed that such relations were mutually beneficial in such spheres as trade, investments and economic cooperation. "I see no reasons that could hamper us in building such good relations making it possible to develop contacts between people, including in the cultural, humanitarian and educational spheres," he added.

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