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Russian parliament, Lavrov to discuss foreign policy priorities amid Ukraine crisis

The United Russia party hopes for a sincere and substantive talk with Lavrov on all aspects

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

MOSCOW, November 19. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will take part in Russia’s State Duma (lower house) plenary session on Wednesday.

Lawmakers intend to focus on the priorities of Russia’s foreign policy amid the Ukrainian crisis and the West’s growing sanction pressure.

The United Russia party hopes for a sincere and substantive talk with Lavrov on all aspects. “The situation in southeastern Ukraine may be one of the priority issues,” first deputy head of the United Russia faction Frants Klintsevich said.

He hopes the Russian Foreign Ministry “is preparing an adequate response” to all possible variants of the development of events. “We’d like to draw confirmation from the minister,” Klintsevich said.

The lawmakers are planning to discuss prospects for the development of relations between Russia and the European Union due to the anti-Russian sanctions. “It is not a secret that many European countries go on a leash of the USA by imposing sanctions, like they say, ‘with an effort’. I believe that in this connection we have what to think about,” he said.

The Ukrainian crisis and confrontation in the sanctions war with the USA and the EU will be major for the Liberal Democratic Party. “We want to clarify the situation what one can wait for towards Ukraine and the Western countries. Other issues fall by the wayside,” deputy speaker Igor Lebedev told TASS.

Besides Ukraine, the A Just Russia party intends to raise the question of Russia’s cooperation within the Customs Union. First deputy head of the faction Mikhail Yemelyanov said, “Very often our Customs Union partners behave not as partners not only in foreign policy but also in external economic issues. Decisions, which do not provide any benefit to Russia, are taken through them, under their pressure, for example export duties and certain acts of the origin of goods,” he told TASS.

The Communist Party will seek to discuss the development of cooperation between Russia and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). “We’ll formulate these issues,” first deputy chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Leonid Kalashnikov told TASS.

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