-Open to dialog, but certainly not through media

Lavrov was asked by journalists after the meeting with the Norwegian Foreign Minister to comment on the joint article of Sweden’s Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and Poland’s Radoslaw Sikorski regarding Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons in areas adjacent to European Union member states.

- First, literally in the last few weeks I participated in the events which were attended by my colleagues from Sweden and Poland. In the regular contacts that take place between the foreign ministers of Russia and these countries, as well as between the ministries of foreign affairs, the topic was not touched on. Hence the conclusion that if they chose to express this idea not in direct contacts with us, but from the pages of a newspaper, then I suppose they pursued a goal that does not quite meet the task of solving a particular issue. This is the first comment, Lavrov said according to the transcript from the press-conferance posted at the portal of Russia’s Foreign Ministry.

BarentsObserver reported last week about Carl Bildt’s article where he urge Moscow to remove non-strategic nuclear weapons from the Kola Peninsula and Kaliningrad. Carl Bildt and his Polish colleague suggest such a withdrawal could be accompanied by the destruction of relevant storage facilities.

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Last October, BarentsObserver travelled together with the Swedish and Norwegian Foreign Ministers over the Kola Peninsula in the vicinity of storage sites for naval tactical nuclear weapons.

See slide show:
Images of Carl Bildt, Jonas Gahr Støre and BarentsObserver’s Tour-de-Kola from October 2009

Commenting on Bildt’s article, Lavrov continued: -For many, many years now, we have been calling for taking the first step in this regard. Namely – removing all tactical nuclear weapons to the territory of the state to which they belong. We’ve been unable to reach out to our partners in order to even begin to talk about it. Our position is well known and, I repeat, we are open to dialogue on any issue, yet certainly not through the media, but directly.

Also the Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre has expressed concern about the large quantities of tactical nuclear weapons stockpiled in the world, in Russia in particular.

Talking to the radio station Ekho Moskvy last week, Støre said that the article by Bildt and Sikorski was an important reminder that tactical nuclear arms should also become a part of a comprehensive disarmament formula.

Answering the question whether Oslo is concerned about the presence of Russian nuclear arms near the Norwegian border, Jonas Gahr Støre said he did not think that from the Russian side the arms are aimed at Norway. The two countries are neighbors geographically and strategically, they having been living that way for many decades and have very decent relations, he said.

- However, everyone will be safer, if there are less nuclear arms, Støre said in the interview with Ekho Moskvy.

The Norwegian Foreign Minister reminded that Norway supported the project of clearing the Kola Peninsula of nuclear wastes that were threatening the environment. It would want to recommend Russia to assume the main responsibility for clearing wastes inherited from the Soviet Union.

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