Foreign Minister Lavrov: Esteemed colleagues,

As the representative of the host country of the present meeting I would like to voice satisfaction with the organization and the content of our work here.

The Foreign Minister of Armenia, who presides over the Council of Foreign Ministers, has already said about the declaration adopted by us today over the events around South Ossetia. We are satisfied with the contents of this declaration. It gets the facts straight, and contains all the necessary statements, including the unacceptability of the military actions undertaken by Georgia against South Ossetia, the necessity to do everything to prevent a recurrence of any such attempts to solve conflicts by force, and an assessment of what is happening around the events in South Ossetia. The inadmissibility of double standards is emphasized, and the inadmissibility of underestimating the dangerous development of the situation in the Caucasus region. I think that to all the questions if they are still left for somebody, this statement gives clear-cut answers.

We have also agreed in a coordinated way on the basis of this declaration to act in international organizations where this theme may one way or another be touched upon. This will be the unanimous position of the CSTO countries, and our ambassadors and representatives abroad will act in concert from these positions endorsed by the ministers. Naturally we paid special attention to the preparations for tomorrow’s Collective Security Council. A block of questions is being submitted for consideration by the presidents, primarily those of military building and the improvement of the systems of preparedness of the coalition group of troops, and the maintenance of a stable operational leadership of the collective rapid deployment force of the Central Asian Region of Collective Security.

Also to be submitted for consideration are questions pertaining to the elaboration and implementation of CSTO interstate target programs. It is important that the draft documents have been agreed upon that are directed at collective participation by the CSTO states in carrying out the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy and concern increasing antinarcotics activities; an important plan of consultations on foreign policy, security and defense issues has also been endorsed.

In addition, I will emphasize the ministers’ statement adopted today on the issues of strategic stability and the necessity of continuing full-fledged control over strategic offensive arms.

I will also note the joint action program for the creation of a system of information security of the CSTO member states.

The last point I would like to note: today, we have agreed to organize joint work on the Russian initiative for the preparation and conclusion of a European security treaty. This is a very important decision. We will begin the work in the next few weeks already.

I assess our joint work today on the whole as very productive. As always, the meeting was very comradely and imbued with mutual understanding, as it should be among allies.

Question: A question addressed to Mr. Nalbandian. At the same it would not be bad if someone else from among the ministers could answer it. How will you comment on the situation in the South Caucasus in connection with the latest events in the region? How is the question of Nagorno Karabakh being solved in this connection?

Foreign Minister Lavrov (replies after Nalbandian): Since Russia is involved in efforts for a Nagorno Karabakh settlement I would also like to say a couple of words. There are no parallels between the situation around South Ossetia and Abkhazia, on the one hand, and the Nagorno Karabakh settlement process, on the other. In the case of South Ossetia and Abkhazia the Saakashvili regime had in the last few years been consistently leading matters toward undermining all the negotiation formats, all the settlement mechanisms that had earlier been agreed upon by all the parties. It had continuously been undertaking provocations against civilians and peacemakers alike and it had continuously sought to change the situation in the security zones which were set up at the start of the 1990s, after the attempt made back then to seize Tskhinval and Sukhum by force. Nothing of the kind occurs around Nagorno Karabakh settlement. Neither party avoids working in the mechanism that was established under the aegis of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs. This process is well under way, with a serious array of already-agreed-upon parts of an eventual settlement accumulated. Work continues on the several problems still remaining. The chief thing is that the foreign ministers regularly hold meetings, particularly with the co-chairs – Russia, the US and France – and the presidents maintain a regular dialogue as well. The presidents’ latest contact was, as you know, in St. Petersburg at the start of this past June. Agreement to continue work at all levels exists. Russia will actively facilitate elaborating a settlement in line with the principles that have been endorsed in the framework of the OSCE, CSTO and CIS in particular.

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