MOSCOW (TASS): Mosc-ow is open for cooperation with Washington, Brussels and the North Atlantic All-iance on the Afghan issue. This was stated on Friday by Russian Foreign Minist-er Sergei Lavrov at a meeting with members of the Association of European Businesses in Russia.
“We are open to cooperation with the United States and the European Union, and with NATO, my own words, because I believe that NATO countries, of course, should bear a significant, main share of responsibility for the reconstruction of Afghanistan,” the head of the diplomatic department said. answering the question about the prospects for Moscow’s interaction on Afghanistan with the relevant partners.
The head of the diplomatic service reminded all Western colleagues of Moscow’s principled position “against the transfer of military infrastructure from Afghanistan or the deployment of new military infrastructure in the Central Asian republics” with the aim of delivering, if necessary, “over-the-horizon strikes on Afghanistan” that could turn these countries into “targets for terrorists.”
“It is necessary to fight with completely different methods. And, of course, those who cooperated with these specific people shou-ld be responsible for the fl-ows of refugees. Now man-y are persuading Uzbekis-tan, Tajikistan, and Kazak-hstan: take refugees for a couple of months, and then we will take them for ourselves, we need to issue do-cuments for them. If they have been cooperating with Western countries for many years – with the Americans and others – is it really necessary to draw up docume-nts for two months? This is not a very correct thing, “he said.
The minister stressed that the stability of its Central Asian neighbors is very “important” for Mosc-ow, and drew attention to the fact that the Russian capital will soon host a me-eting on Afghanistan in the Moscow format. “This is a step towards the preparation of an international conference, which is already being announced and which should consider the reconstruction of Afghanistan. And we have here where to cooperate,” he added.
The Russian side considers the attempts of the US and other countries of the Western coalition to shift their responsibility for the Afghan refugees to third countries as incorrect, Lavrov said.
The head of the diplomatic service reminded all Western partners of Moscow’s principled position “against the transfer of military infrastructure from Afghanistan or the deployment of new military infrastructure in the Central Asian republics” with the aim of delivering, if necessary, “over-the-horizon strikes on Afghanistan” that could turn these countries into “targets for terrorists.”
“It is necessary to fight with completely different methods. And, of course, those who cooperated with these specific people should be responsible for the flows of refugees. Now many are persuading Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan: take refugees for a couple of months, and then we will take them for ourselves., we need to issue documents for them. If they have been cooperating with Western countries for many years – with the Americans and others – is it really necessary to draw up documents for two months? This is not a very correct thing, “he said.
On Wednesday, the Rus-sian president’s special en-voy for Afghanistan, Kab-ulov told reporters that Ru-ssia will invite representatives of the Taliban to participate in a Moscow format meeting on Afghan-istan, on October 20.
