🇷🇺🇱🇧 On October 12, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants of Lebanon Youssef Rajji.

The Ministers had an extensive discussion of the developments in Lebanon.

👉 Sergey Lavrov's opening remarks

The Russian Side expressed serious concern regarding the continuing hostilities in southern Lebanon. It is crucial to cease fire as soon as possible, withdraw the Israeli forces, and create conditions for a political and diplomatic settlement of the conflict according to UN Security Council Resolution 1701.

☝️ Sergey Lavrov confirmed Russia’s consistent support of Lebanon’s sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity.

The parties specifically covered the completion of the current mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon and possible preservation of international presence in a different form.

When discussing the prospects of strengthening bilateral Russian-Lebanese cooperation, the Ministers noted the importance of maintaining regular trusted political dialogue and increasing delegation exchanges.

🤝 They stressed the importance of developing business partnerships to ensure steady positive dynamic of mutual trade and reaffirmed mutual interest in expanding cultural and humanitarian links.

The Ministers had a substantive exchange of opinions on the regional agenda with focus on the crisis in the Gulf region caused by the US and Israeli aggression against Iran. The parties stressed that the only acceptable option is to resolve the disagreements by political and diplomatic means while considering the legitimate interests of the states involved in the conflict.

As concerns the Middle East settlement, Sergey Lavrov and Youssef Rajji confirmed the importance of swift and full implementation of the agreement between Israel and Hamas on Gaza ceasefire and immediate humanitarian assistance to the civilian population of the Palestinian enclave, as well as normalisation of the situation in the West Bank.

The Ministers expressed support for Syria’s unity, territorial integrity, and sovereignty. They stressed the importance of consolidating international efforts in the interests of the country’s post-conflict recovery.

Sergey Lavrov informed his Lebanese counterpart about the latest developments with respect to the Ukrainian crisis.

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