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Margelov: US delegation at Shangri-La Dialogue avoids criticising Russia

The US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel at the forum “intently has not focused on the Russian-American disputes and was very restrained,” Margelov said

SINGPORE, May 31 /ITAR-TASS/. The US delegation at the forum on security in the Asia-Pacific Region has avoided critical statements about Russia and demonstrated temperance, head of the Russian Federation Council’s international affairs committee Mikhail Margelov told Itar-Tass on Saturday.

The US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel at the forum “intently has not focused on the Russian-American disputes and was very restrained,” Margelov said. He “has avoided critical statements about Russia.”

However, Margelov continued, the UK’s Defence Secretary Philip Hammond while answering questions about the situation in south-eastern Asia once again “mentioned Russia’s new imperial ambitions, referring to the Russian Federation’s independent foreign policies.”

The current conference was devoted mostly to “the situation around the Asia-Pacific Region.”

“Nowadays, this region is boiling up, the political processes are connected with deepest changes,” the Russian politician said, mentioning “the tense situation between China and Vietnam, the political situation in Thailand, the complicated processes in India.”

The Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore is an annual event, which is organised since 2002. The forum is organised by an independent think tank, London’s International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). It features representatives of defence authorities, permanent heads of ministries and military chiefs of Asia-Pacific states. The forum gets its venue - the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore. The participants have included Australia, Brunei, East Timor, Vietnam, Germany, India, Indonesia, Cambodia, Canada, China, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, the USA, Thailand, the Philippines, Chile, France, Sweden, Sri Lanka, South Korea and Japan.

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Foreign policy Mikhail Margelov

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