US strongly rejects proposal on humanitarian pause amid coronavirus pandemic — Lavrov

MOSCOW, April 21. /TASS/. The Western countries, namely the United States, have strongly rejected a proposal on the exemption of humanitarian supplies from sanctions during the coronavirus pandemic, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a video conference with the Alexander Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund’s delegates.

Russia’s top diplomat emphasized that illegal unilateral sanctions amid the pandemic deal a heavy blow to citizens in a range of states, first of all Iran, Syria and North Korea. According to Lavrov, these countries cannot purchase equipment, medicines and special protection gear because "the Western states, first of all the US, have strongly rejected a proposal on declaring a humanitarian pause and exempting the supplies of goods needed to combat the pandemic from any sanctions."

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres earlier called on the G20 to lift sanctions against other countries in order to effectively combat the coronavirus spread. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet also backed the idea of cancelling or suspending sanctions amid the pandemic.

Hegemony and dominance policy

Coronavirus has posed a serious challenge to all countries, and under such circumstances the policy of hegemony and dominance is particularly inappropriate, Sergey Lavrov stated. "The coronavirus infection, which has become a serious challenge for all states and many international organizations, of course should encourage us to reflect on what is going on in the world and reflect on how we should live further to ensure a peaceful, safe and stable future for all of humanity," Lavrov said.

According to Russia’s top diplomat, it has long become clear that humanity lives in an interdependent and interconnected world, and the pandemic has exposed that.

"This being so, collective approaches to international relations are essential. The concepts and practices of hegemony and dominance are totally inappropriate in the 21st century," Lavrov stressed.

Development of multipolar world order

No one can stop a multipolar world order from emerging because it is a natural process and attempts to do so are bound to fail, the Russian foreign minister believes.

According to Lavrov, a polycentric world order is being formed as a number of economies grow and new financial centers emerge naturally. "Attempts to hinder this process are bound to fail from the standpoint of history. The countries that ruled the international stage for half a millennium now see their rivals getting stronger and they clearly seek to maintain their privileged position. Various methods are being employed to that end, including dirty ones," the Russian top diplomat said.

"However, I would like to reiterate that attempts to hinder the natural development of a multipolar world order are bound to fail. There are many facts proving that countries are coming to realize this, which include the formation of the G20 group. It involves G7 members and BRICS countries because cooperation and consensus between them are crucial for resolving pressing global economic, financial and political issues," Lavrov emphasized.

He added that other groups and organizations that involved Russia were also based on consensus. In this regard, he mentioned the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

US plans in regard to Open Skies Treaty

Russia believes that the US has come to a decision to pull out of the Open Skies Treaty, the foreign minister commented.

"Experts who monitor the developments believe that a decision has already been made in Washington. We believe there is a substantial grain of truth in these assessments. We are also drawing practically the same conclusions based on our contacts with the Americans, other members of NATO and participants in the Open Skies Treaty," Lavrov said.

According to the top diplomat, by accusing Russia of violating the treaty, the US is laying the groundwork to concoct an excuse for their withdrawal from the agreement, like in the case with the INF treaty. "The same method is being used by the US with the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. "As for the CTBT, it is necessary to justify why the Americans said categorically and officially that they wouldn’t join it. Although they have already stated officially that they wouldn’t ratify it, they are nonetheless trying to use the provisions from the treaty to once again accuse us, and also China just recently, of violating the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty," he explained.

Lavrov stated that the current US administration is fundamentally against any kind of control over US military activity. He doubted that if the US withdrew from the Open Skies Treaty, other countries would follow Washington’s footsteps.

"It seems to me that the Europeans understand that the treaty has an added value as an instrument of trust, predictability as well as transparency, and we regard it as such. Our reaction to potential or pending decisions by Washington will depend on how this decision will be formulated, what it will actually mean. And of course, we will keep an eye on whether any of NATO allies will follow Washington, since the added value that the treaty has now will depend on this, but we will simply have to look at how it will be maintained in the light of the US plans," Lavrov stressed.

About the treaty

The Treaty on Open Skies was signed in March 1992 in Helsinki by 23 member nations of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). It was drafted with Moscow’s active participation. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the treaty is a major instrument of strengthening trust and security. The Open Skies’ main goals are to build transparency, render assistance in monitoring compliance with existing or future arms control agreements, broaden possibilities for preventing crises and managing crisis situations. The accord establishes a program of unarmed aerial surveillance flights over the entire territory of its participants. Now, the treaty has more than 30 signatory states. Russia ratified the Treaty on Open Skies on May 26, 2001.

For the past several years, Washington has been accusing Moscow of carrying out the accord in a selective manner and of violating some of its provisions. Russia has also put forward some objections regarding the way the United States has been implementing the agreement. In 2017, Washington imposed some restrictions on Russian observation flights over its territory. Moscow came up with a tit-for-tat response some time later.

Libya arms embargo

The European Union’s reluctance to put forward its ideas at the UN Security Council on monitoring the arms embargo’s implementation in Libya arouses concerns, Sergey Lavrov commented.

"The fact that the EU has been shying away from presenting its ideas [on controlling the arms embargo in Libya] at the UN Security Council raises eyebrows over the reasons of this position. I hope that soon these reasons will be revealed," Lavrov said.

Russia’s top diplomat recalled that on April 1 the EU launched its operation Irini on controlling the implementation of the embargo on supplying arms to Libya.

"It’s a noble endeavor, but we have told our European friends several times that the EU should come to the Security Council and say: "The Security Council has announced an arms embargo and it must be implemented. We, the European Union, want to carry out another special operation on controlling the compliance with the embargo, it contains some components and we ask the Security Council to support this approach," he noted.

Brussels said the operation could be carried out at sea off Libya’s coast to inspect vessels suspected of shipping weapons or related materials to the Arab countries and from it in accordance with Resolution 2292. Operation Irini will be led by Rear Admiral Fabio Agostini as EU Operation Commander, and the mission’s headquarters will be in Rome. The mandate for the operation will be until March 31, 2021.

EAEU learning from European Union’s experience

The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) will take into account the European Union’s experience concerning the sharing of power among national governments and supranational structures, in particular, during crises, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov commented.

"The European Union, just like we all are, is living through no easy times. But this crisis [pandemic] has coincided with heated debates inside the European Union over the optimal proportions in the operation of supra-national authorities and the responsibility of national governments," Lavrov said. "Of course, we are discussing this inside the EAEU too. Everybody should derive some lessons from the crisis, which will be useful in the future. The way these problems will be handled in the EU will be very useful for us in choosing ways of addressing similar issues within the EAEU."

Lavrov pointed out that the pandemic broke out at a time when the EAEU member states were to make "new, very important qualitative steps in terms of European integration." According to him, the EAEU member states will overcome the crisis more easily, if they develop collective structures, such as the Eurasian Development Bank.

"How can the EAEU member states struggle through this no easy time with minimal losses? I am certain, they can do this only together," Lavrov said.

European Union's relationship with EAEU

The European Union is becoming more open for dialogue with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), Sergey Lavrov stated.

When asked about possible admission of European nations to the EAEU in case of a European Union collapse, Lavrov said that it would not be right to consider such a situation, even theoretically.

He stressed that it would be right to develop contacts between the EAEU and the European Union. "Such proposals were in focus as far back as 2015 and Brussels continues to look at them now. The Eurasian Economic Union in the person of the Eurasian Economic Commission has come out with such initiatives to the European Commission more than once," he recalled.

"At first, the response was simply negative," he noted. "Later on, when Brussels finally saw that the EAEU member nations delegate many of their practical functions to the supranational level, it became more open for dialogue with the Eurasian Economic Commission, but so far only on such technical matters as technical regulations, etc. But still it is more than nothing — such practical things can serve as a basis for expansion of cooperation."

The Russian top diplomat reiterated that Moscow stands for strategic partnership across the entire Eurasian continent. "I think it will help both the European Union to settle its internal problems and the EAEU will be open for cooperation in the interests of its member nations," he emphasized.

Relations with Poland

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has expressed hope that Poland will abandon attempts to sow discord among the two countries.

"I hope that, together with our Polish friends, we will also overcome the current period and that attempts to manufacture rationale for disassociating our peoples will not prevail in the long run," he stated. "I assure you that in Russia you will find the most positive response to any proposals that will be free of an ideological bias and will be based on the interests of citizens of Russia and Poland."

Lavrov noted that Russia had more bilateral contacts with Poland than with any other European country. "We had a committee led by the two countries’ foreign ministers with the participation of deputy ministers of economy, finance, trade, culture and so on. There was also a Group for difficult issues, where historians gathered and honestly discussed sad or, on the contrary, good pages in the history of our peoples," he recalled.

"All that has been frozen now. I also believe it is sad that the visa-free travel between the Kaliningrad Region and neighboring regions of Poland has been frozen. After all, all of us, including the Polish leadership, are in favor of contacts between people," Lavrov stressed.

Cooperation in Central Asia

Russia and the West should rather cooperate in Central Asia if they want to help the region, as competition for clout there is counterproductive, Russia's top diplomat believes.

He stressed that Russia was helping Central Asian nations. In particular, it is extending financial support to Kyrgyzstan to help it create necessary infrastructure and to bolster its state budget.

"If some in Kyrgyzstan think that something is to be changed [in Russia’s policy toward Kyrgyzstan — TASS], I don’t rule out it is a reflection of the competition process our Western colleagues have plunged into. We think such competition is counterproductive. It is much better to cooperate to help the Central Asian nations, including Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, which need it badly," he indicated.

According to the Russian top diplomat, unlike Western partners, Russia is ready for cooperation in the interests of humanitarian assistance to the Central Asian countries. More to it, in his words, the West is obviously seeking to curtail Russia’s influence in that region.

"When the European Union came out with its Central Asian strategy <…> it had no mention either of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), or of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), or of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), or of any other structures the Central Asian nations participated in this or that way. They were given a passing mention as a warning that a close eye should be kept on all these EAEUs, SCOs and other CSTOs (Collective Security Treaty Organization) so that they did not hinder the European Union’s work in Central Asia. Like the European Union’s Eastern Partnership program for South Caucasian and European former Soviet republics, this strategy was geared towards competition with Russia, towards containing it on these territories," Lavrov stressed.

The new edition of the European Union’s strategy in Central Asia that was developed in 2007 was endorsed by the 28 EU foreign ministers on July 17, 2019. The new strategy focuses on two aspects: Partnership for Resilience ("Strengthening Central Asian countries so they can overcome internal and external challenges; Supporting the delivery of successful reforms, etc.) and Partnership for Prosperity (Developing a competitive private sector and promoting an open investment environment; Fostering research and innovation with a focus on skills development for youth; Supporting economic modernization, etc.).

Coronavirus 

In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus — named COVID-19 by the WHO — have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 2,484,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 170,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 652,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.