List of participants in the international conference on security. Exhibitions and conferences. Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation warned NATO about possible mistakes in determining the perpetrators of cyber attacks
The 6th Moscow Conference on international security organized by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Secretary of the Security Council Nikolai Patrushev and FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov spoke at the meeting.
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a greeting to the participants and guests of the conference. He said that the participants will discuss issues of political and diplomatic settlement of numerous conflicts, primarily in the Middle East and North Africa. "On the agenda ... first of all, the fight against terrorism as the main threat to global and regional security," the president said.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu devoted his speech to the Syrian issue. He said that the US missile attack on the Khan Sheikhoun base in the province of Idlib created a threat to the security of Russian military personnel. “Rocket fire is regarded as a gross violation of international law. In addition, Washington's actions have created a threat to the lives of our servicemen who are fighting terrorism in Syria,” said Mr. Shoigu.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov touched upon the conflict on the Korean Peninsula during his speech. He stated that Moscow considers the beginning of deployment on the territory of South Korea American missile defense system THAAD. "We are seriously concerned about the degradation of the situation on the Korean Peninsula with the ongoing implementation of Pyongyang's nuclear missile programs, as well as with the disproportionate increase in the military activity of the United States and its allies in the region under the pretext of the North Korean threat," Mr. Lavrov said.
Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev noted that the participants in the conflict on the Korean Peninsula were brought to the brink of war by provocations from outside. According to him, "new dividing lines are being created in the Asia-Pacific region, conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa do not subside, the situation in Afghanistan remains difficult."
Mr. Patrushev called Ukraine another hotbed of tension, where "dozens of civilians continue to die." "Russia is interested in the political and diplomatic settlement of these problems," the Secretary of the Security Council stressed.
FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov spoke about terrorist threats to world security during his speech. According to him, the militants of the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra organizations banned in Russia, realizing that they were threatened with complete destruction, began to change tactics and created a new global terrorist network. “In particular, they stepped up the transfer of militants to Afghanistan, Yemen and deep into the African continent, and also began to create strongholds and bases there. In fact, we are talking about the formation of a new large-scale terrorist network,” Mr. Bortnikov said.
This section presents the largest and most significant security measures, key events transport and fuel and energy complex of Russia
Events of RIA Security Industry
The event is a key platform for discussing the requirements of the current legislation in the field of transport security and finding ways to implement them, exchange practical experience and technologies for ensuring transport security and countering terrorism.
Events calendar
The 25th International Exhibition of Lighting, Security Systems, Building Automation and Electrical Engineering will be held this year for the first time in the international Light+Building format. More than 400 exhibitors from different countries. As part of the business program, building automation technologies, smart home and cities will be discussed at the Electrotechnical Academy and Intersec Forum Russia.
The organizers are the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, the Federal Security Service of Russia, the Russian Guard. The exposition will take place on the area of 25 500 sq.m. in three exhibition halls. More than 400 companies will present modern security systems and means at the Exhibition.
Leading experts in the field of security will speak at the business part of the event.
Business platform for implementation latest developments in the field of public, information, fire and personal security.
The objective of the exhibition is to demonstrate the entire range of workwear, personal protective equipment, IP security solutions, access warning and control systems, video surveillance and much more.
Events are held in accordance with the order of the Government Russian Federation No. 1903-r dated September 10, 2016 by the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation with the organizational support of the Business Dialog company for an open discussion of the most relevant transport issues and strengthening mutual understanding between government officials and the business community.
The exhibition is designed to demonstrate technological innovations and achievements modern systems automation, electrical and lighting engineering, energy and resource saving, to enable manufacturers and equipment suppliers to present their products and services in a rapidly developing region.
Speech by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Sergey LavrovVIMoscow Conference on International Security
In the capital of Russia, on the initiative of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, on April 26-27,VIMoscow Conference on International Security. As one of its participants, a well-known publicist, said, "almost the whole world is represented at the forum."
The unifying theme of the conference in Moscow was "Global Security: Challenges of the 21st Century". This year marked a particularly high level of representation - more than 20 delegations at the forum were headed by the Ministers of Defense of their countries. In total, more than 750 participants - from defense ministers to representatives of academic circles from 86 states, including the leadership of the largest international organizations- UN, OSCE, SCO, CIS, CSTO and ICRC. On behalf of Secretary General UN Deputy for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman spoke at the forum. Greetings from the President of Russia Vladimir Putin to the participants of the forum were read out by Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev, who opened international forum. The theses of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Sergei Shoigu expressed regret that in the year that has passed since the previous - the V Moscow Conference on International Security, where the threats posed by world terrorism were discussed, "to agree on the coordination of actions in the fight against terrorism, and also, it has not yet been possible to take the necessary decisions to eradicate it.” “Political disagreements and mutual distrust impede the consolidation of healthy forces in confronting this global evil,” Sergei Shoigu stated. - They interfere with the implementation of what was voiced by the President of Russia at the 70th session General Assembly United Nations initiative to create a broad international anti-terrorist coalition.
“Political disagreements and mutual distrust impede the consolidation of healthy forces in confronting this global evil,” Sergei Shoigu stated. "They prevent the implementation of the initiative voiced by the President of Russia at the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly to create a broad international antiterrorist coalition."
Let's single out the main accents in S. Shoigu's speech. The first is, of course, Syria, which remains the front line of confrontation with ISIS. And here the Russian politicians and the military had something to tell the participants of the conference - this was the provision of military assistance to the legitimate government of the SAR, and the completion of the complete demining of ancient Palmyra, and the successes of the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Warring Parties. According to the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, thanks to the work of the Center's employees, the heads of one and a half thousand settlements throughout Syria abandoned armed struggle with government forces. Plus negotiations on a political settlement in the format of Russia, Turkey and Iran.
The second emphasis was placed on the position and policy of NATO. “I would like to emphasize that Russia’s actions to strengthen defense capability are a balanced response to the expansion of the North Atlantic Alliance, its development of military infrastructure in the states bordering Russia, and the deployment of its military contingents in them,” Sergei Shoigu said. According to the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, NATO continues its course of "power projection" near our borders, involving more and more new states into its ranks. In particular, the recent decision to join the Alliance of Montenegro gives NATO an advantage in strengthening control over the Balkans, given the low military potential of this republic. In the same chain - stories on the promotion of military infrastructure in the Arctic, the creation of a military training ground in northern Norway in close proximity Russian borders, as well as aviation patrolling of the Baltic airspace. “We consider such NATO actions as a demonstration of the forceful advancement of our interests,” Sergei Shoigu said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in his speech, named the factors preventing Western countries from considering such an urgent issue as the formation of a broad anti-terrorist coalition of countries under the auspices of the UN, proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. “The establishment of genuinely joint actions, the creation of a broad anti-terrorist front, as President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin proposed at the UN in September 2015, is still hampered by political ambitions and “double standards,” Sergei Lavrov said.
“Establishment of genuinely joint actions, the creation of a broad anti-terrorist front, as President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin proposed at the UN in September 2015, is still hampered by political ambitions and “double standards”.
This theme was later elaborated in their commentary on International Affairs by eminent experts from Germany and Italy. In the meantime, let's add that, as Sergei Lavrov noted, "Russia continues to fight to unite the world community in the fight against terror." Here are the practical steps that the Minister spoke about: submitted to the UN Security Council a draft resolution aimed at counteracting the ideology of terrorism; We support the introduction of a comprehensive trade and economic embargo against the territories under the control of ISIS in accordance with Article 41 of the UN Charter, which would provide for sanctions measures to influence violators. Among the priorities in this regard, Sergey Lavrov called the need to adopt rules for “responsible behavior of states in the field of information and communication technologies (ICT), which would exclude the use of ICT for military purposes, would not allow them to be used to interfere in internal affairs and would put a barrier on the way of ICT use by international terrorists”. Sergey Lavrov emphasized: “At the UN, we are promoting the initiative to develop a universal criminal law convention on combating crime in cyberspace.”
"Russia continues to fight to rally the world community in the fight against terror."
According to the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, "a surge of terror, of course, should not obscure other dangerous challenges that the world is facing today." We are talking about the degradation of the situation around the Korean Peninsula and the implementation of nuclear missile programs by Pyongyang. At the same time, there is an unjustifiably disproportionate increase in the military activity of the United States and its allies in the region under the pretext of the "North Korean threat". “An extremely destabilizing factor remains the forced deployment of American THAAD systems in the south of the peninsula, an integral element of the global missile defense(ABM) USA,” Sergey Lavrov emphasized.
"An extremely destabilizing factor is the forced deployment of American THAAD systems in the south of the peninsula - an integral element of the US global missile defense."
Sergei Lavrov raised the question of the special responsibility of politicians who unleash wars. According to the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, to successfully solve the global tasks of combating drug trafficking, illegal migration, international terrorism impossible "without abandoning the philosophy of hegemonism and one's own exclusivity." In this regard, the Minister emphasized: “A return to the origins, to the fundamental principles of international life enshrined in the UN Charter, including the sovereign equality of states, non-interference in internal affairs, and the resolution of disputes by peaceful means, is in demand.” Consonant thoughts were expressed in his speech by the ex-president of Croatia Stepan Mesyach. He urged: "We will not let those who earn money in the war take away peace from us!"
"We will not allow peace to be taken away from us by those who make money in war."
Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to NATO Alexander Grushko noted that he shares the alarming assessments of European security that were given on the first day of the conference. A. Grushko highly appreciated the quality of the discussion, comprehensive analysis and sincere attempts in this difficult situation when indeed many in Europe do not know what to do, still look for ways out to return to normal relations, which will allow us to focus on common challenges and threats. The Permanent Representative to NATO singled out two factors that, in his opinion, will be of systemic importance for such attempts. “The first is that 2017 will go down in the history of Europe as the year when the decisions of the Warsaw Summit to strengthen the eastern flank will be implemented “in iron”. Today we see that the confrontational policy that was announced then is now being embodied in the form of concrete preparations. This is years ahead. It is clear that attempts to invest in one structure of the "march of tank columns" will continue to require an appropriate ideological and political justification, and as a result, we risk ending up in the logic of the Cold War that we went through, when hostile military planning will require a constant hostile agenda, - explained A .Grushko. - Once again I emphasize: it will be very difficult to get out of this circle. And here the tactics of "small steps" obviously will not play. We need cardinal decisions related to the ability to stop what is happening today in Central Europe, which, as correctly said today, was the most secure and free from terrorist threats.
The second thing A. Grushko warned about was the campaign launched in the West in favor of increasing military spending. “Of course, we must not forget that the 250 billion who spend European countries for their own defense - this is an exorbitant amount, which exceeds, for a moment, the combined military spending of Russia and China. And if the NATO countries - European and Canada - comply with the Warsaw standard, this will mean another increase in military budgets by one hundred billion a year. It turns out 250 billion, of which 20%, i.e. 70 billion should be spent on the purchase of weapons - these are colossal sums. According to A. Grushko, this will mean that Russia is really moving towards militarization. “And in conditions when there is no real military danger, when funds should be spent not on repelling the mythical Russian threat, but on countering risks from the south, primarily the fight against terrorism and other threats that require other, including military investments - and all this is happening against the backdrop of a complete breakdown of systemic military ties. In this regard, A. Grushko considers the situation "absolutely depressing." “We do not see any attempts by NATO to restore dialogue between the military. In conclusion, I want to say that these three elements may not be the main topics in discussions on political platforms today, but these are long-term factors that will continue to stifle attempts to return towards the normalization of relations, towards some sort of schemes. interactions, security schemes that involve the construction of security together with Russia, and not without Russia, all the more not against it,” Alexander Grushko emphasized.
Continuing the topic of NATO, in an interview with the columnist of the magazine " international life» President of the German-Russian Forum Alexander Rahr noted: « Europe cannot be built only "on one whale" - on NATO. Russia is the most big country in Europe - should be able to influence the provision of security in Europe, but the Europeans do not understand this yet.” A. Rahr recalled that even during the Cold War, there was always an understanding in relation to the USSR that it was necessary to deal with an opponent on an equal footing. “Now it's gone,” A. Rahr stated, “unfortunately, Russia is viewed as a regional power that allegedly has nothing to say to the world. This is the most great danger". Rahr believes that Russia and European countries need to jointly build a new European home. At the same time, the expert believes that there are forces in Europe that are ready to engage in dialogue, for example, in Germany, but the heads of European states are not yet ready for this.
"International Life": - And what prevents the creation of a broad anti-terrorist coalition of states under the auspices of the UN, which the President of Russia spoke about at the 70th session of the UN General Assembly?
A.Rar: - Unfortunately, the great powers of the world do not really fight terrorism, - answered A. Rahr. - Russia fought terrorism in the Caucasus and is now really fighting in Syria. I think that in the Middle East the game is different, it is not aimed at defeating ISIS by any means. It can be seen with the naked eye that the foundations for the future world order are being created in the Middle East. Both the Americans and the West would by no means want Russia to participate in this world order. Russia, from their point of view, is a regional power that has lost cold war. As long as the consciousness of the Western elites is such that Russia “has nothing to stick out”, and we, the Americans and Europeans, will build the world, nothing good will happen until then,” A. Rahr said.
"International Life": - Nevertheless, Russia comes up with initiatives on a global scale, and the West does not offer such initiatives.
A.Rar: - I can say that the President of Russia V.V. Putin is very right plan about how to rebuild Syria. First, create a constitution, hold elections, create equal conditions for all the peoples of Syria. Russia “does not cling to Assad,” as they say in the West, Russia wants all the peoples of Syria, including minorities, including Kurds, not only Sunnis, to live in good will among themselves. But this plan was proposed to the West, it was shown to Western leaders, but the West ignores it precisely because it wants to write a plan for the Middle East itself. Understand, Russia was not in the Middle East 25 years after the collapse Soviet Union Therefore, the return of Russia to the Middle East is considered by Western elites as a threat to the monopolar world, which the West still wants to build alone.”
In conclusion, let us give an assessment of the VI Moscow Conference on International Security of the Italian journalist, writer and public figure Giulietto Chiesa, which he expressed in a conversation in a magazine columnist "International Life": “Everyone in the West says that Russia is isolated, but look - the whole world is here (at a conference in Moscow). Representatives of all NATO countries are here - this is a very clear indicator of the importance of the topic and its development.
"International Life": - How do you assess such a large-scale representation of the conference and the speeches that took place?
D. Chiesa: - I understand that the Russian side does not want to aggravate the situation, I draw such a conclusion from the speeches that were made at the opening of the conference - and the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Sergei Shoigu, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia. Here are countries that are not entirely friendly with each other, but, nevertheless, this is an indicator of strength on the part of Russia. In the West, everyone considers Russia isolated, but here, at the conference, representatives of the whole world are practically present. And not only traditional countries, but also countries that are not friendly to each other, there is India, and Pakistan, and Afghanistan, Brazil and half of Africa in general - which means that the whole world looks at Russia as a factor of peace, otherwise they wouldn't be here, that's obvious.
This is a real correlation of forces, therefore, this is a success for Russia, this is the continuation of a multilateral open dialogue. The VI Moscow Conference on International Security is becoming practically one of the few forums to which, perhaps, there is no alternative. Here, in Moscow, there are 20 defense ministers! Plus everyone interested in the real security of the world. This is very important: practically today Russia has a monopoly on such a situation, because there is no such thing anywhere in the world.
Please note, it is no coincidence that not a single NATO country is represented here at the level of the Minister of Defense, although all of them were invited. They are invited every time, but they do not go to Moscow. It would seem, why? It's just a discussion, a consultation. But they emphasize that it is undesirable to discuss with the rest of the world, except for NATO. Although Sergei Shoigu noted that there are some shifts or advances in relations with Europe. F. Mogherini visited Moscow on the eve of the conference, the President of Italy, Martarello, means that there are some shifts. It's harder with America. This country has developed a "habit" to dominate the world, to manage the situation in the Middle East, which they cannot control today. The United States does not allow the thought that the world will doubt its dominance. And as long as this situation continues, it will be difficult to have a dialogue with America.”
In conclusion, let us note some topics of the VI Moscow Conference on International Security, the discussion of which was considered necessary by participants from all over the world. "European Security: Perspectives and Trends", "Middle East: Modern Challenges in the Fight against Terrorism", "Security of the Information Space and Freedom of Access to Information: Controversial Relations", "ABM: Impact on Global and Regional Security", "Security in Central Asia : the factor of Afghanistan", "Asia-Pacific region: balance of interests or power confrontation?", "Interaction of military departments: regional aspects". Truly - the whole world took up security.
And Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov outlined three ways to deal with it
On Wednesday, the VI Moscow Conference on International Security MCIS-2017, organized by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, began its work in Moscow, which brought together 708 participants from 83 countries. According to the head of the military department, Sergei Shoigu, the conference has become "an annual forum that brings together representatives of defense departments, international organizations and non-governmental experts in search of answers to key global security issues." The correspondent of "MK" was also present at the conference.
The meeting was opened by the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Nikolai Patrushev, who read out the address of the President of Russia. In this message, Vladimir Putin noted that the forum “has firmly established itself as a sought-after platform for professional discussions on a wide range of global and regional security issues and the search for optimal ways to solve them. …At the center of your agenda is the topic of combating international terrorism, which has assumed unprecedented proportions and, in fact, has challenged civilization.”
Nikolai Patrushev himself also noted that in the current conditions, the course of individual states towards unilateral actions and interference in the internal affairs of other countries seems especially dangerous. According to him, this leads not only to the emergence of wars and international conflicts but also to the intensification of terrorism - the main threat to security at the present time. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu dwelled on the threats in his speech in more detail, drawing Special attention to such global security challenges as “the development of anti-missile defense systems and lightning-fast global strike using high-precision long-range non-nuclear weapons, comparable in effect to nuclear weapons". In addition, the number one global threat in the modern world, according to Shoigu, is terrorism. He condemned "flirting" with terrorists and supporting them in any form, saying that the elimination of terrorists is one of the priorities of the Russian Ministry of Defense, an example of which is the operation of our Aerospace Forces in Syria. The minister said that as a result of this operation, terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra (organizations banned in Russia) were dealt a "powerful blow" and conditions were created to launch the process of political settlement in the country. In this regard, he positively assessed the interaction with the United States on the Syrian issue, at the same time noting that cooperation between Russia and NATO was frozen. And it happened not at the initiative of our country. "A tough and uncompromising information war is being waged against Russia," Shoigu said. He recalled that the countries of the North Atlantic Alliance have begun to deploy military infrastructure near the borders of Russia and are implementing dangerous strategic schemes. Minister Shoigu called the US missile attack on Syria a security threat to the Russian military. He said that "such steps force us to take additional measures to ensure the safety of personnel."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in his speech at the conference, also spoke about the problems of terrorism, emphasizing it international aspect. He paid special attention to the need to "work on the mistakes" and to recognize as untenable the actions and decisions that pushed the Middle East and North Africa "on an inclined plane of general degradation of the situation with an as yet unclear outcome." To do this, according to Lavrov, it is necessary to recognize the cultural and civilizational diversity of countries modern world and refuse to impose values from outside.
In particular, Minister Lavrov drew attention to the danger that manifested itself in recent times. According to him, the terrorists had at their disposal technical documentation and production facilities for creating chemical weapons which they already use. In this regard, he recalled the Russian initiative to develop within the framework of the Conference on Disarmament international convention on combating acts of chemical terrorism and on a proposal to expand the possible scope of the convention to include measures to counter biological terrorist threats.
The chief of the General Staff, General of the Army Valery Gerasimov, also spoke about the growth of the terrorist threat in his speech, noting that Russia has extensive experience in combating it. In the Military Doctrine of the Russian Federation of 2014, the growing activity of global terrorism was for the first time singled out as a military threat. Russia is one of the first countries, since the 1990s, to gain experience in combating terrorists on its territory. “We repelled that first attack of terrorism and drew several conclusions for ourselves: firstly, it is necessary to prepare the armed forces for the fight against terrorist formations in advance; secondly, terrorism must be beaten preemptively, at the early stages of the formation of a threat, not to allow its ideology to penetrate the minds of the population, to develop and seize new territories; thirdly, terrorism cannot be eliminated without the use of military force, but also one military force he can’t be defeated either,” said the Chief of the General Staff.
As an example, Valery Gerasimov named Syria: "the development of events in Syria according to the Libyan scenario would lead to the fact that a recently prosperous country would turn into a source of terrorist danger for the entire region." Russian intervention prevented this development. The general noted that Russian units are engaged in Syria exclusively in anti-terrorist activities, being there legally.
At the conference, speeches were also made by foreign guests. In particular, the Minister of Defense of China People's Republic Colonel General Chang Wangquan believes that to combat terrorism, comprehensive measures are needed to eliminate not only the symptoms, but also the causes of the problem - political, economic, cultural and diplomatic. The fight against terrorism, in his opinion, should receive the support of the people. At the same time, Chang Wangquan emphasized the danger of the growth of nuclear terrorism. He also called for abandoning double standards in the fight against terrorism and not dividing terrorists into "good" and "bad".
The Minister of Defense and Support of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan, called the main culprits of international instability "the Takfirist-Zionist forces supported by the United States, Israel and some countries of the Middle East, led by Saudi Arabia who are the creators and sponsors of terrorist groups.” The minister called Russia's presence in Syria "a symbol of international cooperation in the fight against terrorism."
The Minister of Defense of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, paid special attention in his words to the socio-economic causes of terrorism. He said: “When people are robbed of their dignity, self-respect and subjected to social and economic injustice leading to inequality, the exploited begin to blindly follow the merchants of death, not only for money, but also to go against systems that have failed to respond. to their problems." He also stressed that low-intensity conflicts between states and irregular armed formations have become widespread today. Thus, modern wars there is no clear theater of operations and front line, - the minister believes. He stated that Pakistan supports the efforts of the Quadripartite Coordination Group on Afghanistan and is seriously concerned about inciting subversion and aiding terrorism by various intelligence agencies.
This topic was continued ex-president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, who began his speech with a story about the recent history of Afghanistan, which was heavily affected by external interference. After entering Soviet troops outside support for Islamist movements and groups began in Afghanistan, which continued after the withdrawal of Soviet units. As a result, extremists began to flock to Afghanistan from all over the world. After 15 years of the US military presence in Afghanistan, the crisis has not only not ended, but has begun to spread to neighboring countries. External interference, according to Karzai, led to the formation of the Islamic State. "Terrorism continues to be the product of a policy of thoughtlessly pursuing short-term and narrow national interests at the expense of others," the politician said.
The VI Moscow Conference on International Security MCIS-2017 will continue its work on Thursday, when the discussions will touch upon the issues of combating terrorism and radical Islamism in the Middle East, security of the information space, missile defense issues, security in Central Asia.
The VI Conference on International Security opened in Moscow. More than 700 guests, including about 500 foreign ones, take part in the forum.
The main topics of the conference are the fight against international terrorism and security threats in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.
On cybersecurity and NATO
Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev, speaking at the opening of the forum, said that Moscow stands for equal conditions for cyber defense for all countries, while NATO - only for its member countries.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu also criticized the alliance, calling the level of trust between Russia and NATO "extremely low." He stressed that it is now that the agreements between our country and the alliance on the prevention of incidents in the air are so important. Shoigu noted some changes in NATO's views on building relations with Moscow.
On relations with the European Union
The Russian Defense Minister advised the EU to stop intimidating its own population with Russia and focus on building relations with Moscow. He noted the importance of creating an effective anti-terrorist strategy.
“However, instead of striving to unite efforts, modern Europe cultivates anti-Russian phobias, inflates fears about an alleged threat from the east,” Shoigu said.
At the same time, he stressed that the EU is interested in restoring trust and resuming dialogue, and also understands the futility of sanctions.
On the demonstration of the forceful advancement of NATO interests in the Baltics and the Arctic
Sergei Shoigu criticized NATO's actions in Norway, the Baltics, the Balkans and the Arctic. The Minister of Defense stressed that Russia views this "as a demonstration of the forceful advancement of its interests."
According to the defense minister, NATO's "aviation policing" to control the airspace of the Baltics "has actually become integral part the so-called restricted access zone covering the Kaliningrad region and the eastern part of the Baltic Sea”.
On the return of Syria to peaceful life
Shoigu believes it makes sense to create an international coalition to clear mines in Syria. He considers it necessary to involve commercial organizations in this work.
He also hopes that the corresponding UN service will join the demining of the territory. Shoigu announced the need to create a fund to finance specialized commercial companies that will be involved in such work.
Only a comprehensive strategy can return Syria to peaceful life, the minister is sure, and for this it is necessary to take into account the mistakes made in Afghanistan and Iraq, when the international community did not pay due attention to the internal political processes in these countries and their restoration.
American threat. US airstrikes in Syria
A missile attack on an airbase in Syria is a security threat to the Russian military, Lavrov and Shoigu believe.
"Such steps force us to take additional measures to ensure the security of the personnel of the Russian group of troops," the defense minister said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in turn, said that the forces blocking the investigation into the incident in Khan Sheikhoun want regime change in Syria.
On the situation in Ukraine
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that he regrets that the war party is gaining the upper hand in Kyiv, and armed provocations continue on the line of contact in Donbass.
The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry recalled that a blockade was introduced against the Donbass, "the damage from which is inflicted not only on this region, but also on Ukraine as a whole."
According to the minister, Russia hopes "that our partners, including those in the Normandy format, will more persistently and openly encourage the Kyiv authorities to fulfill their obligations in Minsk."
