Austria: "Deplorable" - Lavrov on current relations between Russia, EU

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described the current state of relations between Moscow and Brussels as “deplorable”, speaking at a press conference with his Austrian counterpart Alexander Schallenberg in Vienna, on Wednesday.
“We paid special attention to the situation on the European continent, including the deplorable state of relations between Russia and the European Union. Contacts with Brussels have been minimized due to the EU policy, which aimed at containing Russia”, said Lavrov. Despite that, Moscow is ready “to develop a pragmatic dialogue with the European Union and its members, exclusively in an equal, mutually respectful manner,” he added
The two top diplomats also discussed the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan. With Schallenberg saying, as the evacuation is ongoing, “we should support people in transit countries. Next week we will have negotiations with neighbouring countries: Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. And European states can give them great help and support.”
Thousands of people have tried to flee Afghanistan since August 15 when Kabul fell to the Taliban, as Afghans fear reprisals and a return to authoritarian rule. Around 10,000 are currently staying at the US airbase while they await flights to leave the country according to Pentagon officials.

TRANSLATIONS:

SOT, Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister (Russian): “Naturally, we talked about international issues. We paid special attention to the situation on the European continent, including the deplorable state of relations between Russia and the European Union. Contacts with Brussels have been minimized due to the EU policy, which aimed at containing Russia. For our part, we expressed our readiness to develop a pragmatic dialogue with the European Union and its members, exclusively in an equal, mutually respectful manner, and to seek agreements in those areas that meet mutual interests.”

SOT, Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister (Russian): “Of course, Alexander Schallenberg confirmed Austria’s position on Crimea. The ultra-radicals and neo-Nazis who came to power began to threaten that they would drive the Russians out of Crimea, sent armed militants there. But, nevertheless, I would like to say that these events like the “Crimean Platform” are, of course, come from the category of fake politics, we all understand that all of this is artificial: the ideas that are embodied in this kind of performance. Ukraine will probably entertain us with its decisions more than once. It was said the other day that they ‘privatized’ the Day of the Baptism of Russia. I don’t know, maybe it will soon be decided by Mr. Zelensky that the New Year can only be celebrated in Ukraine because the rest is not Ukrainian.”

SOT, Alexander Schallenberg, Austrian Foreign Minister (German): “Our Federal Chancellor has clearly outlined our position, but we need to understand what the situation in Austria looks like now. Austria has the second-largest Afghan community. We have much more Afghans per capita than, for example, in Sweden. If France would accept as many Afghans per capita as we do, it would be 270 thousand Afghans. Austria showed great solidarity. I mean that in such a crisis situation we have a lot of joint issues. We are not interested in a state that does not work at all, we do not want Afghanistan to turn into an incubator of international terrorism. The only reaction, the only answer cannot be that we will transport, take out of the country as many people as possible. On the other hand, there are people who in the past very loyally and in solidarity cooperated with organizations and authorities that were in Afghanistan, as well as people who some have a residence permit and Austrian citizenship. Of course, we are trying very hard to get them out and we have already managed to get more than 70 people out of the country. Time passes quickly, the US announced that on August 31st they would withdraw their troops from the airport. Our position regarding refugees is very clear. Now it’s up to other partners. And I think we should support people in transit countries. Next week we will have negotiations with neighbouring countries: Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. And European states can give them great help and support.” *LOOSE TRANSLATION*

#Austria #Lavrov #Russia #EU

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