Russian foreign minister to take part in G20 ministerial meeting

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova holds weekly press briefing

MOSCOW:

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will travel to Indonesia to take part in a meeting of the G20 foreign ministers on July 7-8.

The minister will have several bilateral talks on the sidelines of the meeting, which is preparatory to the 2022 G20 summit at the presidential level, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a press briefing in Moscow.

Specifically, Lavrov will meet with his Chinese, South African, Brazilian, and Mexican counterparts and with the leadership of invited international organizations, she said.

On June 22-23, Lavrov will pay a visit to Iran's capital Tehran where the focus will be on the restoration of the Iran nuclear deal, Zakharova added.

Also, the state of affairs in Ukraine, Syria, Afghanistan, South Caucasus, Yemen and around the Caspian Sea will be on the agenda, she noted.

Touching upon the controversy surrounding grain export from Ukraine, Zakharova said Russia does not prevent in any way the shipment of food.

Western statements about this are lies, she added.

She said wagons emptied from Western weapons in Ukraine could be filled with grain.

The spokeswoman claimed Black Sea ports were mined by the Ukrainian military.

To initiate the export of grains, the ports have to be demined, she said.

She then urged Ukraine to let go of 70 foreign vessels from 16 countries which she argued were currently forcibly detained in the country's ports.

Speaking about the situation in Ukraine, the spokeswoman congratulated the US embassy in Moscow on getting a new address -- 1, Donetsk People's Republic square.

Citizens in Moscow voted to change the name of the square outside the US embassy to commemorate those killed by US weapons in Donbas.

About Lithuania’s ban on the transit of a large number of Russian goods to its semi-exclave Kaliningrad region, Zakharova said Moscow informed the EU and Vilnius about the necessity to revoke the decision, otherwise, Russia's response "will be not in the diplomatic, but in the practical area."

She also commented on London's decision to ignore rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), saying she will follow the developments.

She added that the UK violates human rights on a regular basis, citing as the most striking example the fate of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.