Lavrov Visits Munich to Watch NATO Allies Squabble Amongst Themselves Over Syria

Last weekend, Sergey Lavrov headed to the Munich Security Conference.

Our European correspondent Mikhail Antonov reporting from Munich.

The Chairman of the Munich Conference is upset. European leaders and some representatives of NATO countries refused to sit on the same stage next to each other. Wolfgang Ischinger didn’t explain who’s boycotting whom and why. The Prime Minister of Turkey partly answered this question, starting off with declaring his claims to the allies.

 

Binali Yıldırım, Prime Minister of Turkey: "The United States, while fighting ISIS, is cooperating with Kurdish self-defense units and the Kurdish Democratic Party. These groups are part of the terrorist organization we’ve been struggling against for four decades. What do we do now? We’re protecting the western flank of NATO, and what other NATO countries are doing is cooperating with terrorists".

These accusations remained unanswered. Advisor to the US President for National Security, General McMaster, took on the role of a prosecutor, which undoubtedly delighted part of the Munich audience. Many people here are accustomed to this tonality, which brings confidence that the US is with them and that it’s again the leader of the free world. Drill sergeant voice, steady gaze, and absolute self-righteousness are used to address an advancing marines unit rather than an expert community.

General McMaster, Advisor to the US President for National Security: "It's time for all nations to hold the Syrian regime and its sponsors accountable for its actions. We must pressure the Kim regime, using all available tools. Now is time to address serious flaws in Iran deal. We cannot allow repression and revisionist powers to diminish our confidence in our sacred principles".

By revisionist forces, he referred to Russia and China. Trump, who came to power promising to reduce the US public debt, increases the military budget by $80 billion. Part of this money, 24 billion, will be spent on the nuclear arsenal modernization. It’s about developing reduced power charges. Sergey Kislyak is a man with a colossal experience of understanding what the Americans really mean.

Sergey Kislyak, the Foreign Affairs Committee Deputy Chairman: "Americans are beginning to think of nuclear weapons not so much as a means of deterrence but as a means of conducting war. All this can drastically lower the threshold for the nuclear weapons use and increase threats to international stability".

McMaster also recalled the fact that Russia is allegedly leading a cyber war against Western democracies, as the British Prime Minister Theresa May and the NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg had done it before. Back then, they tried to catch Sergey Lavrov off guard asking whether Russia was satisfied with dividends from the funds invested in the American elections. Sergey Lavrov, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs: “So until we see the facts, everything else is just blabber. Please pardon my not being very diplomatic."

Overall, we must admit that some of the politicians invited to the conference come here just to chatter, not bothering to pay attention to the facts and details. In this sense, the retired Dutch Foreign Minister could somehow fit in, for example, with Morawiecki, the Prime Minister of Poland. Confusing dates, causes, and consequences, he said that in 2008, it was Russia who attacked Georgia, and a couple of years later, in 2010, did the same to Ukraine.

Of course, it’s possible that the Polish Prime Minister got confused because of a strong disappointment. Poland hasn’t managed to stop the Russian-German gas project Nord Stream 2. On Friday in Berlin, he was upset by Angela Merkel, and on Saturday in Munich, Austrian Chancellor Kurz added to his concerns.

Sebastian Kurz, Austrian Chancellor: "I'm afraid my answer won’t surprise or please you. In fact, we’re very positive about the Nord Stream 2 project."

Angela Merkel, German Chancellor: "We had different views on the Nord Stream issue. We think this is an economic project. We are also for energy diversification. We also want Ukraine to continue having transit gas traffic but we believe Nord Stream poses no danger to diversification."

The Poles are so concerned about the expansion of the Nord Stream 2 because they care for Ukraine, as Morawiecki said in Berlin. It sounds odd considering that Poland has just adopted a law prohibiting the ideology the Kiev regime is based on. However, this ideology exists in the Baltic States and in Poland itself, which is threatened by the EU sanctions for retreating from democracy.

Sergey Lavrov, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs: “Benefits of Nazi war criminals condemned during the Nuremberg trials continue to be held in high esteem in some countries, including EU countries. We know that in some countries in the North of the EU people march in honor of the Neo-Nazis, we also know that the symbols of Neo-Nazis are being actively used in Ukraine. The banning of unwanted media, attacking churches of the Russian Orthodox Church and many other things are the distinguishing features of radical nationalists that in many aspects verge on Neo-Nazism. That's it. I think the audience is watching what is going on in Europe and know what I mean."

They know but they stay silent, and the majority clearly lost interest in the topic. The Ukrainian president was escorted to the Bayerischer Hof Hotel back entrance because of being scared that he would fall into an ambush of Mikhail Saakashvili, who was spotted at the Munich Airport.

Piotr Poroshenko was very well prepared to speak at the conference. He even had a prompter for the first time. But he was to impress a half-empty hall, which would have been indecently empty if it hadn’t been for the Ukrainian delegation and those who didn't manage to escape after the previous session. Poroshenko demanded to prohibit the Russian flag everywhere the way it was banned at the Olympic Games. This comparison is unlikely to please the IOC. He also proclaimed Ukraine the shield and sword of the EU. He unfolded the EU flag scorched in battles near Donetsk. The President tried very hard, and Rasmussen, his freelance advisor, the former NATO Secretary General, struggled to keep himself awake. At the end, Poroshenko asked for questions himself, because Chairman Ischinger had gone off, and, having realized that there would be no questions, said it was "fantastic" although it was nothing but the reality.

This year's Munich conference wasn’t at all successful. It opened no new ways and opportunities for global conflicts resolution. Its main result is the confidence that, at best, in a year, they’ll be discussing exactly the same topics.

Mikhail Antonov, Alexander Korostelyov, Darya Grigorova, Yevgeny Popov, Anton Chegayev, and Andrei Putra, Vesti News of the Week, Munich, Germany.