Russian FM Lavrov: "Russia will respect the will of Crimean people in referendum."

Russian FM Lavrov: "Russia will respect the will of Crimean people in referendum." (TheVoiceRussia).

Lavrov began his press conference saying that Russia and Western countries still disagree over the situation in Ukraine. "As to practical measures foreign countries could take, we do not share a common view of the situation, disagreements remain but, of course, the conversation was useful."

During the press conference Lavrov assured journalists that Russia is not avoiding dialog with Kiev regarding the situation in Ukraine.

"Ukraine has proposed holding the Council of CIS Foreign Ministers, it is currently chairing the CIS, in Kiev in the coming days. We have supported that, in accordance with the procedural regulations, first a meeting of deputy foreign ministers is organized and is held in the CIS headquarters in Minsk but, unfortunately, Ukrainian colleagues have refused this," Lavrov said.

Sergei Lavrov said Russia had no existing or proposed plans to invade the southeastern regions of Ukraine, at a news conference in London following talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry.

"Russia has and can have no plans to invade southeastern regions of Ukraine. We assume that the rights of Russians, the rights of Hungarians, the rights of Bulgarians and Ukrainians should definitely be ensured and should be protected," he added.

As far as the Crimean referendum is concerned, Russia will respect the Crimean people's choice, the Russian Foreign Minister said. "We have confirmed our stance stipulated repeatedly by the Russian president that we will respect the declaration of the will of the Crimean people during the coming referendum of March 16."

Lavrov called for the international community to urge Ukraine to hold immediate constitutional reform. "The international community, if it treats the fate of Ukraine responsibly, should, first of all, explicitly urge a start to the process of constitutional reform immediately. The Verkhovna Rada could initiate this process by inviting all regions to participate and by ensuring their equal places at the negotiating table," Lavrov said.

US Secretary of State John Kerry did not make any threats against Russia at the talks but sanctions that Western partners are talking about will not help mutual interests, Sergei Lavrov stressed during the press conference. But he said Russia was part of the information community and knew what was being discussed in Washington and in Europe.

"I'll be bold enough to assure you that sanctions are a counter-productive instrument and if such a decision is taken in Western capitals, it means it will be their decision," Lavrov said.

"One thing for sure is that this will not help mutual interests, business interests, the interests of our partnership in general," he added.

Earlier, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said that the draft resolution submitted by the United States to the UN Security Council, which contains the appeal not to recognize the Crimean referendum results, is unacceptable to Russia.

"Americans have submitted this resolution and our attitude towards it is most negative. We do not support such a resolution," Gatilov said. "The resolution talks about things that the UN Security Council shouldn't discuss as international peace and security are not at issue here," he said.

"The main thing that the draft resolution contains is an appeal not to recognize the results of the referendum in Crimea. Therefore such a resolution is of course unacceptable for us," he said.

Gatilov added he was convinced the draft resolution "totally ignored the objective realities that have emerged". "We think the right of people who are frightened of a repeat of the Cyprus scenario to express their will must be taken into account," he stated.

Russia "will of course respect decisions that referendum participants vote for," he said. "We do not think that the Security Council ought to interfere in the decision by the legitimate authorities of Crimea regarding the organization of a referendum as this is not prohibited by the UN Charter or other international law," Gatilov said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that Crimea "means immeasurably more" to Russia than the Comoro Islands mean to France or the Falklands do to Britain.

"Whether there are any precedents in international law or not, there surely are, everyone realizes, and I say so in all responsibility, what Crimea means to Russia, and that it means immeasurably more than the Comoros do to France or the Falklands to Britain," Lavrov told a news conference after talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Lavrov expressed hope that the West will realize that "this is indeed a case that cannot be viewed in isolation from history". "I'm convinced that, if Kosovo is a special case, Crimea is a case no less special," Lavrov said.

The talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry dedicated to the situation in Ukraine have ended.

"The five-hour Lavrov-Kerry negotiations in London have ended. The news conference of the Russian minister will be held soon," deputy head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Information and Press department, Maria Zakharova, posted on her Facebook account. Read the full story here.More here.