Lavrov says Russia sees 'visible progress' in relations with US

MOSCOW

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that there is "visible progress" in Russian-US relations, and that a presidential meeting should bring out results.

Speaking at the 3rd Minsk International Conference on Eurasian Security in the Belarusian capital, Lavrov said "progress in these relations is visible, but so far mainly in the fact that dialogue has resumed."

Regarding the prospects of a Russia-US presidential meeting, he emphasized that Moscow wants guarantees it will yield concrete results.

“We also need guarantees that the meeting of presidents will bring specific results. We are prepared for this result,” he said.

A summit between President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump, planned to be held in Budapest this month, was cancelled. They last met in August in Alaska.

Lavrov expressed hope that the US approach would shift toward a peaceful resolution of the Ukraine conflict.

According to him, Trump "wants sustainable peace" and does not support "pouring weapons and money into Ukraine," which could potentially have a positive effect on the settlement.

“I hope that after all, the logic adopted by the US, the logic of establishing lasting peace, will prevail,” he added.

On the subject of strategic arms control, Lavrov said bilateral resolution has been stalled, specifically pointing out that talks about extending the Treaty on Reduction of Strategic Offensive Arms (START III) "have been off the table for a long time."

He said Russia expects an official positive reaction from the US to its initiative to extend START III, "so that they too agree unilaterally to comply with quantitative indicators enshrined in the New START treaty."

As for the prospects of a new treaty to replace START III, he clarified that it would require "a fundamentally different atmosphere in Russian-American relations."

Shifting to the resumption of the air traffic between Russia and the US, the minister said Moscow feels Washington does not prioritize this issue. “So far, from our conversations with American colleagues, we feel that this is not their priority,” he said.

The Russian top diplomat also mentioned that lifting sanctions from the Belarusian airline Belavia is largely a "cunning story" because it involves "limited exemptions from the existing sanctions regime."

Turning to the situation in Eurasia, Lavrov said Moscow sees attempts by the West to separate Transcaucasian and Central Asian countries from Russia.

"Such tendencies we will suppress by all available means - diplomatic, political, economic - of course," he warned.