1327-09-09-2008
Question: Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov will make a working visit to Poland this week. What is its program?
Answer: Sergey Lavrov will make a working visit to Warsaw on September 11, as previously arranged, at the invitation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, Rados╕aw Sikorski. Talks are scheduled between the ministers, as is Lavrov"s conversation with Donald Tusk, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Poland.
The Russian-Policy Public Forum will be held in Warsaw during the visit, resuming its work after a four-year hiatus and called upon to help improve the atmosphere of bilateral relations. Lavrov and Sikorski are slated to meet with the Forum participants and bestow the joint diplomas of the Foreign Ministers of the two countries "for services in the promotion of understanding and rapprochement between Russian and Polish societies," established in 2000 (Nikita Mikhalkov and famous Polish actor and stage director Wojciech Semen will become their laureates this year).
A ceremony of laying a wreath at the memorial to Soviet soldiers by Sergey Lavrov will take place in Warsaw.
Question: What principal themes does the Russian side intend to discuss in the course of the upcoming talks?
Answer: The Warsaw talks will focus on key aspects of international developments and on European security issues, including themes on which the positions of our countries do not coincide. This concerns, in particular, assessments of the consequences of the aggression of the regime of Mikhail Saakashvili against the people of South Ossetia and Russian peacekeepers.
In Warsaw the Russian side will again declare firmly its invariably negative stand on the decision to deploy components of a US missile defense system in Poland. Moscow believes this step will adversely affect global and European security. So far we haven"t seen any real readiness to consider Russian concerns and discuss the serious confidence building measures to at least convince us these plans are not directed against Russia. As a result Russia will have no choice but to undertake adequate retaliatory steps against the US military facilities on the territory of Poland. It is obvious that the Polish side cannot be interested in this.
Question: What are the Russian approaches to the further development of relations with Poland?
Answer: Russia regards Poland as an active EU and NATO member and considers it basically important to continue an open and frank dialogue on all topical problems. Along the lines of bilateral relations we are ready to meet halfway to the extent the Polish side will actually take into account the interests of Russia. We are interested in continuing a mutually respectful dialogue with moderate, pragmatic political forces in Poland in furtherance of the accords reached during the visit of Prime Minister Tusk to Moscow this past February and with a view to making headway on practical matters of cooperation where our interests coincide.
A part of the Lavrov-Sikorski talks will be held in their capacity as co-chairs of the Committee for the Strategy of Russian-Polish Cooperation. Agreement to resume its activities was reached this past spring at the highest level. Additionally, in the opinion of the Russian side, a full-format Committee meeting involving representatives of all the concerned agencies should be thoroughly prepared with emphasis on key areas where there is a good basis for ongoing development. The reciprocal trade turnover in 2007 reached a record level of 17.9 billion dollars. Over the first half of 2008, it rose by more than 80%, to 14.4 billion dollars. Poland is a large consumer of Russian energy carriers and an important transit country in their supply to Europe. The potential exists to intensify the work of the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation. Ties are dynamically evolving in the cultural field: we have a Season of Polish Culture (about 100 events) and Science being held in Russia this year - Polish Science Days will take place in Moscow in October under the auspices of the Academies of Science of the two countries.
Great importance in the work with Warsaw is attached to matters related to the functioning of the Kaliningrad Region and, in particular, to preparing intergovernmental agreements on the facilitation of mutual trips of residents of the border areas of Russia and Poland and on navigation in Kaliningrad (Vistula) Bay.
Question: What can be said about the impact of the historical past on the development of our bilateral relations?
Answer: Historical issues, we invariably hold, should not be projected onto the present and future of our relations, let alone aggravate them. In this connection Moscow welcomes the resumption in June 2008, in a new depoliticized format, of the work of the Group for Difficult Affairs, dealing with issues stemming from the history of Russian-Polish relations, and expresses the hope that at the meeting scheduled for October this year in Moscow another step will be taken along the path of removing from current political circulation the legacy of complicated issues left to the Russian and Polish peoples by history.
I would like to note that Russia appreciates the Poles" consideration and respect for the Soviet military burial grounds and for the memory of the fallen for the liberation of Poland. For our part, we traditionally render assistance to official Polish delegations, representatives of public and sports organizations (the Katyn Car Run) as well as to relatives in visiting the burial grounds and memorial complexes of victims of totalitarian repressions at Katyn, Smolensk Region, and at Medny, Tver Region.
09-09-2008
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