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| Russian FM Lavrov expects to talk to US counterpart Tillerson soon on Ukraine & bilateral relations | Russian FM Lavrov expects to talk to US counterpart Tillerson soon on Ukraine & bilateral relations |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said in an interview he will probably be in contact with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson soon, and is expecting to discuss the situation in Ukraine, bilateral relations, and other major international issues. | Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said in an interview he will probably be in contact with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson soon, and is expecting to discuss the situation in Ukraine, bilateral relations, and other major international issues. |
| Commenting on the situation in Ukraine with Russian channel NTV, Lavrov said he sees no alternative to the package of measures in the Minsk agreement. | Commenting on the situation in Ukraine with Russian channel NTV, Lavrov said he sees no alternative to the package of measures in the Minsk agreement. |
| “The Europeans, and hopefully the Americans, will confirm this,” he said. | “The Europeans, and hopefully the Americans, will confirm this,” he said. |
| “I say ‘hopefully’ because the US team that will deal with Ukraine has not been formed yet,” he added. | “I say ‘hopefully’ because the US team that will deal with Ukraine has not been formed yet,” he added. |
| Lavrov hopes the US State Department officials with whom it will be possible to discuss the situation in Ukraine and Syria will be appointed soon. | Lavrov hopes the US State Department officials with whom it will be possible to discuss the situation in Ukraine and Syria will be appointed soon. |
| “This process takes some time, because the entire Obama team at the US State Department left the place at their own initiative, as they stated. Now there are some career diplomats left there, with no bosses. Rex Tillerson, as a new person in this field, is now plunging into the details of the problems [we’ll] have to work on. I’m sure that this process will be completed fairly quickly,” Lavrov said. | “This process takes some time, because the entire Obama team at the US State Department left the place at their own initiative, as they stated. Now there are some career diplomats left there, with no bosses. Rex Tillerson, as a new person in this field, is now plunging into the details of the problems [we’ll] have to work on. I’m sure that this process will be completed fairly quickly,” Lavrov said. |
| “But the key deputies have not been appointed yet, and the key areas of the foreign policy haven’t been mapped out either,” he added. | “But the key deputies have not been appointed yet, and the key areas of the foreign policy haven’t been mapped out either,” he added. |
| The critical situation in Donbass has been provoked, among other factors, by Ukrainian volunteer battalions that are not controlled by the Ukrainian Army, Lavrov said. | |
| “Despite an agreement on a cease-fire declared a few days ago, and on the withdrawal of heavy weapons into places where they should be in accordance with the Minsk agreements, completely opposite messages arrive on a daily basis: that the Ukrainian side, the armed forces of Ukraine, are increasing their divisions and heavy weapons near the contact line and in residential areas in flagrant violation of all that was negotiated and what the president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, and his representatives have signed on to,” Lavrov said. |