Russia’s Lavrov Declares at Security Talks That His Country’s Goals in Ukraine Are Unchanged

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov holds a press conference on the sidelines of a two-day conference of the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) in Skopje on December 1, 2023. (AFP)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov holds a press conference on the sidelines of a two-day conference of the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) in Skopje on December 1, 2023. (AFP)
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Russia’s Lavrov Declares at Security Talks That His Country’s Goals in Ukraine Are Unchanged

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov holds a press conference on the sidelines of a two-day conference of the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) in Skopje on December 1, 2023. (AFP)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov holds a press conference on the sidelines of a two-day conference of the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) in Skopje on December 1, 2023. (AFP)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov delivered a blunt message to Western leaders Friday and declared at an international security conference that his government was not prepared to “review its goals” in Ukraine.

“We aren’t seeing any signals from Kyiv or its masters about their readiness to seek any kind of political settlement,” Lavrov told reporters while attending an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe conference in North Macedonia.

“We see no reason to review our goals,” he said.

North Macedonia, which joined NATO in 2020, waived a flight ban on Russian officials so Lavrov could attend the two-day meeting of the OSCE's Ministerial Council, prompting the top diplomats of Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to skip the event in protest.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a brief stop in North Macedonia’s capital, Skopje, before Lavrov arrived.

Participants at the meeting accused Moscow of undermining the OSCE with its war in Ukraine. The Vienna, Austria-based organization, originally created to ease Cold War tensions, includes 57 member countries from North America, Europe and the former Soviet Union.

“It is Russia that is waging an unprovoked and unlawful war against Ukraine, and it is Russia that is obstructing the OSCE agenda,” Ambassador Katrina Kaktina, Latvia’s representative to the organization, said Friday.

“Russia is continuing violations of human rights: deliberate killings of civilians, including children, forced deportations, tactics of torture and sexual violence. Those are war crimes being committed by Russia in Ukraine,” she charged.

Lavrov held several bilateral meetings while in Skopje, including talks with the foreign ministers of meeting host North Macedonia, Armenia and Hungary, which has maintained close ties with Moscow despite European Union sanctions on Russia.

He later accused diplomats from other Western countries of showing cowardice by refusing to meet with him.

“They probably want to emphasize their intention to isolate Russia but I think they just chickened out,” Lavrov said during a Friday news conference that lasted over an hour.

“They’re afraid of any honest conversation,” he said. “It’s cowardice, simple cowardice.”

At the close of the OSCE meeting, North Macedonia said it had overcome Russian objections that had threatened to stall the organization's activities.

Participants voted to pass the OSCE's rotating presidency from North Macedonia to Malta, sidestepping objections from Moscow which had blocked an earlier bid by Estonia. Malta will assume the presidency on Jan. 1.

“Let me break the news that the OSCE is saved. We have saved the organization and its functionality,” North Macedonia’s foreign minister, Bujar Osmani, said.

OSCE Secretary-General Helga Schmid also had her term extended for nine months, along with two other senior executives at the organization. A third executive was newly appointed, also for a nine-month term.



Israeli Finance Minister Says Banks Should Not Obey EU Sanctions on Settlers

20 July 2022, Israel, Barkan: Right-wing settlers march to build a settlement in the West Bank near Barkan. (dpa)
20 July 2022, Israel, Barkan: Right-wing settlers march to build a settlement in the West Bank near Barkan. (dpa)
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Israeli Finance Minister Says Banks Should Not Obey EU Sanctions on Settlers

20 July 2022, Israel, Barkan: Right-wing settlers march to build a settlement in the West Bank near Barkan. (dpa)
20 July 2022, Israel, Barkan: Right-wing settlers march to build a settlement in the West Bank near Barkan. (dpa)

Israel's Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Thursday condemned the country's banks that have refused to provide services to Israeli settlers sanctioned by the European Union and warned they may have to pay compensation to them.

The EU last year imposed sanctions on five Israeli settlers for violence against Palestinians and Smotrich said there were reports of sanctions being considered against other settlers.

But in a letter to the banking supervisor, he said Israeli banks should not follow a "zero risk" policy since it leads to the abandonment of Israeli clients "under the guise of compliance with foreign sanctions."

In a statement quoting his letter to the regulator, Smotrich called on banks to use their legal, economic, and international strength to fight "unjust sanctions", Reuters reported.

"The banks’ enormous profits enable them to take measured risks on behalf of their clients — especially when it comes to a national moral injustice," Smotrich, who leads the far-right Religious Zionism party, said.

Should banks continue to comply with sanctions and harm clients, Smotrich said he intended to promote immediate legislation that would require banks to pay substantial compensation to affected customers.

He also intends to require the Bank of Israel itself to offer banking services to citizens targeted by sanctions.

Responding to the letter, the Bank of Israel said that while banks must comply with international sanctions to avoid an array of risks, a draft directive it published on Thursday aimed to ensure appropriate banking services were available for the affected customers.

"Circumventing foreign sanctions regimes through the Israeli banking system exposes banking corporations to multiple risks, including compliance risks, anti-money laundering and counter-terror financing risks, legal risks, and reputational risks," the central bank said.

But it said it has taken steps to comply with sanctions "without banks resorting to blanket refusals to serve such customers."

While the sanctions in question concern Israeli settlers, the EU is reviewing its broad pact governing its political and economic ties with Israel in the face of mounting international pressure on Israel amid complaints about the lack of humanitarian aid reaching Gaza in the wake of the war triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack.