[speaking in foreign language]. Translator colleagues, good morning. We begin our Traditional Press conference by Russian Foreign minister sergey lavrov. The highlights of last years efforts. Please be brief in your questions so that we can take as many questions as possible. We have press conference in russian. But you will have some translation into foreign languages. And the broadcast is available on our website and social media. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Hope you had a good holiday season. Welcome to the new year. Very grateful to you for taking part in our annual press conference. I dont think i should spend a lot of time on my introductory remarks. Just recently, the president gave a big end of the year press conference. And just a few days ago, president putin met with the editors in chief of russian news agency. S in chief of russis agency. You are well familiar with the president s comments, including foreign policy. I will say briefly that once again, we have to say that this year was not easy. We see various hot spots around the world and middle east. Not in africa. And ukraine. And in the recent months we saw serious escalation because of the threats coming from washington. Threats to solve the Nuclear Issue on the Korean Peninsula through the use of force. We heard similar threats regarding afghanistan. Again using force to solve the problem and of course the statements intended to disrupt joint comprehensive plan on the Iranian Nuclear program. Further destabilizes the situation. Unfortunately our u. S. Partners and their allies still want to condu conduct affairs through dictating and ultimate uums and they are unwilling to listen to other centers of International Politics. And they refuse to acknowledge the merging multipolar world. The methods they use to deter their arrivals, are for a large part, from the deployment of the global Missile Defense system, unilateral, territorial application, of its laws and, like i said, threats to resolve International Issues based on their own scenario, including even the use of brutal military force as a result we see International Law being undermined. International institutions losing their significance. And more and more as states building up their military might. Which they are regard as almost the only guarantee of preserving their sovereignty undercurrent circumstances. Therefore, weve been doing our best to protect russias National Interest on International Affairs including the interest of our people, and interest of russian companies, which often are discriminated against. And simultaneously we do our best to protect International Law, based on the u. N. Charter. Working together with other constructive forces, internationally, weve been upholding universal values of truth, Mutual Respect and cooperation. Doing our best to prevent the d degradation of the International World order which is seriously upset to date and we want to our best to prevent the world from d descending into chaos and confrontation. Specific areas of work, ill comment on that when i answer your questions. Ill only answer right now that this year, this new year will continue with our efforts in all those areas. This includes, fighting terrorism. We saw serious progress with that in syria and currently syria is at an important stage moving on to important dialogue and working together with turkey and iran. Preparing for dialogue with congress where a wide range of Syrian Forces will be participating as required by the u. N. Security Council Resolution 254. We will continue working on the you Iranian Nuclear deal. And the palestinian israeli conflict. Conflicts problems are further complicated by the fact that palestinian issue has not been resolved. Of course we will also continue working on ukraine. A problem which can only be resolved by full implementing the package of measures adopted in m in minsk in 2015. We have an important event coming up, the president ial election. Our embassies, cons lates, and those aboard will be able to vote. U lates, and those aboard will be able to vote. Lates, and those aboard will be able to vote. I will stop here and start the interactive part of our conversation. Translator as you might know, the media publishes the writing of top words, top ten words of the previous year. What would be your rating . Well, for the fear of being misunderstood, i wont talk about specific words. As far as stories are concerned, it is, of course, syria. This is a problem where many interests of many players converge. And like i said, we do our best. There is this initiative of the syrian dialogue in congress. We do our best to harmonize the interest of all of the syrian parties and external players that can influence the situation. Of those, who would like to advance their interest in the region as part of this syrian process. This is a complex process. But like i said, we have reasons to believe that the group of iran and turkey, which was able a year ago to launch the process of deescalation zones and despite attempts to undermine these efforts this Initiative Still is quite effective. And the process also stimulated the United Nations and before we started the process, the u. N. Process did nothing for about ten years. So i hope the issue involved is Syrian NationalDialogue Congress will also stimulate the u. N. To step up its efforts. In other words, the Sochi Congress pursues the goal of helping the geneva talks and we clearly said as much to our colleagues, including the u. N. Leadership. And the countries involved in this syrian settlement, the second story of the year, i guess the middle east in general, middle east in northern africa, because syrian settlement is just a part of a very complex nexus of problems existing in the region. I can mention libya, yemen, and i have already mentioned the palestinian israeli settlement, which is experiencing a deep crisis. And i still remain convinced that with regards, the influence in the palestinian israeli settlement, the deadend setting up a palestinian state, this has very negative effect on the radicalization of the. Ukraine is understand subject which artificially is overinflated. And is regarded by some as the grind stone in the relations between russia and the west. I think it is an absolutely erroneous approach and i wish they could abandon such a view. Which they use for the crisis. Confrontation between the quote unquote shore tari unquote authoritarian russia and democratic west. Instead we should focus on the minsk agreements because they are extremely clear. And they dont allow any double interpretation, different interpretations. If only we could focus on this we would be able to resolve this conflict. We would not use ideological interpretation of the situation as something that means a lot to relations between russia and the west. This would allow our western partners to abandon their unconditioned support for kiev, which disrupts the minsk agreements. This is another story of the year. I can also mention some positive trends. The eurasian, the implementation of the greater eurasia project, including sco, asean, this project is open to new participants in east and in the west alike. Of course, these are groupings which em body the trends of the modern world. The objective process of the system of International Relations emerging. Of course, i may have forgotten something i should mention. But these are the stories we keep working on on a daily basis. M. Translator mr. Lavrov, im from taiwanese news agency. Leaders of russia and china say they would like to continue to cooperate in International Fairs just before the new year. So what are the major International Issues where russia is counting on china . The operation will have its next summit in june in china, whats your expectations . Translator im very grateful to the moderator for letting you go second. Because you mentioned a subject which i did not mention when answering the first question regarding stories of the year. Of course, the Nuclear Problem of the Korean Peninsula is one of the most serious issues today. Russia and china have been working together closely on this matter. As you know, we have a joint initiative with china. Regarding way to move from confrontation to political settlement. To begin with, we suggest that everybody should calm down and freeze any confrontational actions especially conducting military drills and launches of missiles, nuclear tests, and largescale maneuvers. Conducted by the United States together with the republic of korea and japan. So once there is this moratorium in place, such ban on hostile actions, we will actively support direct contact between the interested parties. Including first time for most of course, pyongyang and washington. We will also give support for this dialogue including the sixbody process involving also russia, china, japan and republic of korea. This, i think, is the most important item on the russia china agenda. I would also like to say that by working on this matter is not easy. Like i said, the United States says openly about the need for a military solution, even though everybodys aware of dire consequences of such reckless action. And in a situation, where there was opportunity for dialogue, we saw reaction of like military drills around north korea, which proved further escalation. We have a jointdrawn map together with china and we will work based on it. We also Work Together on the syrian settlement, our chinese colleagues share russias position on this matter. What i mean is resolved on the political needs base on the position which there should be politic political dialogue without preconceived conditions, and with syrian including government and all key opposition movements. s flekting the diversity of the syrian population, ethnically and religiously. We also have another important joint initiative with china, a draft treaty on nondeployment of weapons in space. We put it together years ago. Unfortunately, because of the United States, this treaty is not discussed. Other countries realize it is an important matter. But United States makes plans to mill tarrize space, to deploy weapons in outerspace. Which of course, will make International Security issues much, much more difficult. By the way, at the summit conference, china cosponsored the draft of another important document, convention on prevention of the use of chemical and biological weapons for terrorist purposes. And again, surprisingly, the United States opposed this move. And finally, in eurasia, we have been working closely, consolidating our efforts for integration china has its own initiative called one belt one road. The president of russia and the chairman of china have agreed to promote cupeling of eurasia celebration and one welt one road initiative. Members of the Eurasia Economic Union have been working together on a treaty on the trade deal with china. Some we see contacts between the su and open for eurasia to open and signing agreements with eau and free trade zone agreement for talks around the world. On the whole, this is what president putin calls the greater yougrea greater eurasia project. We have to consider a number of important factors. There are a lot of economic interests at stake. But efb, there are this initiative looks so promising because its based on real Life Initiative looks so promising because its based on real Life Initiative looks so promising because its based on real Life Initiative looks so promising because its based on real Life Initiative looks so promising because its based on real lifes initiative looks so promising because its based on real life this initiative looks so promising because its based on real life. Efb, there are this initiative looks so promising because its based on real life. , there are this initiative looks so promising because its based on real life. It doesnt set up for advance then move on to practical things, no. The way we do is, well i can give you a metaphor. You see where people find it comfortable to walk. And after that, they make pathways. Can i give you a long list of other initiatives that russia and china have in common. There are key items to Work Together. Translator mr. Lavrov, in 1988, russia ratified an agreement on friendship and partnership with ukraine. I guess it was 1998. But in 2014, this agreement is no longer relevant. But it was automatically prolonged for ten years if its not denounced. And you have to do it, what will you do, will you automatically prolong this agreement or will you denounce this agreement . And again, youre an expert at International Affairs. Whats your advice to your leadership . I did not get your second part. So what will you do . Will russia denounce this treaty . Or will it automatically prolong it . Or if you dont know yet, what russia will do, what will you, as an authority, an expert in International Affairs, what will you advise to your leadership . Well, if i dont know what to advise, how will i advise . Jokes aside, i got your question. We have one mp, who embrace this issue, and the other day he said that one of the sections was on respect for territorial sovereignty. Territorial integrity and sovereignty and this provision is no longer relevant because crimea had referendum and the people of crimea decided to become independent and then join russia. Well for me, this is not really relevant. International document are important, but it is up to the lawyers. Politically, we continue to respect territorial integrity of ukraine, in borders following the crimea referendum after crimea reunited with russia. There have been many legalese questions on that, including the budapest memorandum. According to budapest, ukraine said it will no longer have its Nuclear Stock and, again, weve never threatened ukraine with nuclear weapons. So it means that there have been no violation of the budapest memorandum. But in a separate protocol ukraine said it will not provoke racist trends. But what happened after protests was a gross violation of that commitment. But politically, i assure you, mr. President putin reiterated once again, we see full implementation of the minsk agreements without any omissions. That is fully in line with our respect for integrity of ukraine and in its current borders following the crimea referendum that was held and fully lined within International Law. But we are talking about the 1998 borders and territories in terms of 1998. Maybe this treaty needs to be modernized. With all due respect, the issue you just raised, only distracts us from the bottom line. Bottom line is that ukraine has subscribed to the minsk acords and the minsk accord have nothing to do with crimea and these, of course, need to be implemented. We need to focus on pushing the key authorities to deliver on what they committed to and what is also part of the insecurity Council Resolution. I dont think we should diverge and discuss what we should do with this international treaty. I think that minsk calls are much more important and again, it was unanimously approved by the u. N. Security council. We know from our private conversations our colleagues got to pass in the west fully understand the tactics of the Key Authority towards the minsk accords. They see that our ukrainian neighbors have made repeated attempts to use forwards to resolve the situation. But in fact, what they do is they just ignore the efforts that need to be taken as part of the minsk accords. So dont want us to hypothesize. I dont want it to be seen as disregard for International Law. But actually, International Law was ignored and disregarded by those who stoked up the protests. Back in february 2014, an agreement was reached between then president mr. Yakakovich. But the next day it was torn to pieces by the opposition. Western counter parts that were present at the signing ceremony, they have actually betrayed the ukrainian nation because the agreement put forward a National Unity government. And instead, they asked the government of winners, as he said, and then the convention brought together and the mps of the east and south an they decided to assume authority and control of their territory. So they never took any military action. But on the 23rd of february, the National Parliament passed a law on the languages and it was an antiration law and they sent a signal. On the 26th of february, coup leaders sanctioned use of force by the right sector and the organizations to storm the Supreme Council to the Parliament Building of crimea. So five days after european leaders were not able to push the key leaders on their movements. So again, five days after the coup, the key authorities sanctioned the use of force against the key the crimea parliament. And again, the Referendum Movement started after