Russia's Lavrov sweeps out Obama era, greets prospects under Trump

Russia's Lavrov sweeps out Obama era, greets prospects under Trump
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. / Photo by US State Department
By bne IntelliNews January 17, 2017

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov laid out Russia’s vision for fairer global relations on January 17 at a press briefing steeped in distaste – and some odd tales of bungled espionage by US agents in wigs – for the outgoing Obama administration, while leaving the door open to a fresh start when US president-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Lavrov declined to comment on earlier statements on Russia made by Trump or his appointees, deeming this futile before the Republican is sworn in on January 20. But he made little attempt to conceal his or the Russian leadership’s disdain for the departing Democratic US leadership, charging it with increasing duplicity.

Resuming talks on nuclear weapons control and disarmament with the US, suspended under Obama, will be one of Moscow’s priorities after the Trump administration takes office. “I believe that resuming strategic stability dialogue with Washington will be one of our priorities, since this dialogue was ruined by the Obama administration along with all other things,” TASS news agency quoted Lavrov as saying during the two-hour event.

Relations between the two countries plunged to their lowest ebb since the Cold War in 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea and inflamned a separatist conflict in East Ukraine, resulting in the imposition of US and EU sanctions.

Russia’s top diplomat welcomed the anticipated shift to pragmatism by the incoming administration that would pursue the interests of the US while recognising the legitimacy of interests of other states “without double standards” or “moralising”. 

Russia also welcomed Trump’s declarations that the war on terror will be one of his foreign policy priorities. “This is exactly what our US counterparts have been lacking,” Lavrov said. Obama’s administration expressed its readiness to cooperate with Russia and drew up some documents, according to the minister, “but in fact they deceived us whey they pledged to separate the moderate Syrian opposition from Jabhat al-Nusra [terror group outlawed in Russia]”, and instead were “sparing them in every possible way”.

“What we have heard from Donald Trump and his team indicates that they have a different approach and are unlikely to employ double standards in order to take advantage of the war on terror to achieve some goals not related to it,” Lavrov said.

Meanwhile, he strongly dismissed the allegations of Russian state hacking and influencing the US elections, and any other Kremlin ties to Trump, who has also denied having any undeclared past business or political dealings with Russia.

Lavrov stressed that Russia sought partnerships geared towards global economic growth for all countries, but that the US administration had been doing “unworthy things” internationally. Japan had in particular been under pressure from the US, which he said went to great lengths “to upset the outlook for normal relations between Japan and Russia”.

But in a likely point of friction with the Trump administration which has pledged to take a firm line on Chinese expansionism, Lavrov emphasised that Russian-Chinese relations are now the best ever in the history of the two countries: “We are certain that coordinated actions by Moscow and Beijing in the international scene are one of the key factors for world stability and we will go ahead with this cooperation.”

The picture was not so good at Russia’s western border, however, with Lavrov calling the EU shortsighted and prone to flawed logic in its relations with Russia, “forcing all partners to choose between Moscow and Brussels”.

Still, Russia at this juncture of world events is “prepared to build relations with the United States, the European Union and Nato,” added Lavrov, a veteran of the international diplomatic stage who served as Russia’s permanent representative to the United Nations from 1994-2004, and then as foreign minister under a succession of prime ministers.

Regarded as a highly trusted and representative member of President Vladimir Putin's team, Lavrov is not one to mince his words. In further claims of underhand behaviour  by US institutions in recent years, he cited growing attempts by intelligence services to recruit Russian diplomats. “As far as recruitment attempts are concerned, this sort of unfriendly activity grew over the past several years, in particular [during] Barack Obama’s second presidency,” Lavrov said, recounting a case in April 2016 when $10,000 dollars in cash were supposedly left in the car of a senior Russian embassy worker in a bid to turn him against his country.

The money was put to work “for the benefit of the Russian state”, said Lavrov, who claimed that US diplomats often acted in disguise and even with men dressed as women. “This all was recorded,” he stressed.

Speaking separately in Moscow on January 17, Putin said he now expects Moscow and Washington to restore normal interstate relations. “I very much hope that common sense will prevail. This also concerns relations between the United Stated and their allies, including European countries. The outgoing US administration involved many European leaders into its internal political struggle that has given rise to many of the current problems,” TASS quoted the Russian president as saying after meeting with his Moldovan counterpart Igor Dodon.

Turning to the scheduling of contacts with the new US leadership, Lavrov dismissed earlier reports that Putin will hold a summit with Trump in Reyjavik shortly after his inauguration. At the same time he extended an invitation to the new administration members to join peace talks on Syria to be held in Kazakhstan on January 23 together with Turkey and Iran.

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