#Opinion by Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova The EU Le | Russian MFA 🇷🇺

#Opinion by Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova

The EU Lead Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Peter Stano, said at a briefing: “Even though Mr Lavrov is on the EU sanctions list, it does not mean that he cannot travel to important international fora…” He added that EU sanctions did not prevent anyone from attending important international fora and discussions.

Sergey Lavrov does not need permission from the EU’s foreign affairs department to attend “important international fora and discussions,” not least because all these sanctions are illegitimate.

What we would like that department to do is to ensure compliance with the commitments by the EU states where international organisations are headquartered.

As it is, these states are erecting all kinds of barriers to prevent Russian officials from performing their legitimate functions at international organisations. For example, they refuse to issue visas and flight documents, but Peter Stano is unlikely to mention this at his next briefing.