Sergei Lavrov
In the Arctic region there is the potential for conflict, said Russian foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking at the plenary session of the Arctic Council in Fairbanks, Alaska. The Minister was quoted by RIA Novosti.
“Russia is doing and will do to the Arctic has developed as an area of peace, stability and cooperation”, — said Lavrov.
The Minister recalled that before 2013 there was a practice of annual meetings of chiefs of staff of the armed forces of the Arctic States. “These meetings were very useful from the point of view of building trust, understanding, and, unfortunately, for the fourth year to conduct them frozen, and not on the initiative of our country,” the Minister said.
Following the meeting, the countries signed an intergovernmental agreement to strengthen scientific cooperation in the Arctic. The document was prepared under the co-chairmanship of Moscow and Washington. He became the third legally binding agreement under the Arctic Council. The first was on cooperation in aeronautical and Maritime search, the second response to pollution of the sea by oil.
Then Lavrov laid a wreath at the monument dedicated airway “Alaska-Siberia”. On this route in world war II from the USA to the USSR were delivered to American aircraft under the lend-lease program.
Before the trip to Alaska Lavrov visited Washington, where he met with U.S. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson and President Donald trump.