Lavrov in Malaysia Sporting a National Shirt at Meetings and Presser

Lavrov isn’t a stranger to what are called “national shirts” that are also known as Aloha shirts. Here’s another example:

Such examples are very few and extremely hard to find, much like the rarity of Sergey Lavrov. Today found him is Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for further talks following the ASEAN meeting to deal with Malaysia’s request to join BRICS along with other bilateral issues Lavrov will touch on in his remarks at the presser this article reports about. There was also the following Press Release regarding the talks we’ll read first:

On July 28, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov paid a visit to Malaysia.

He held talks with Foreign Minister of Malaysia Mohammed Hassan, as well as a meeting with Prime Minister of Malaysia A. Ibrahim.

During a thorough exchange of views, the ministers will touch upon a wide range of issues related to Russian-Malaysian relations, including political dialogue, trade, economic, scientific and educational ties, and regional cooperation. They reaffirmed the closeness or coincidence of positions on key regional and global issues, as well as their readiness to continue close coordination of actions at multilateral venues.

The foreign ministers of the two countries took part in the ceremony of exchanging notes on the intention of the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Institute of Diplomacy and International Relations under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia to establish cooperation in the field of training specialists in international affairs.

Back in Russia, today is Navy Day which is celebrated by parades of Russian Naval vessels at all its bases with the gala event always held in St. Petersburg. But that coverage will come in a separate item after Lavrov’s short, 20-minute presser:

Good afternoon

Today we held talks with Prime Minister of Malaysia Ahmed Ibrahim and my colleague Mohammed Hassan. They were meaningful, in a constructive manner.

We reviewed the entire spectrum of bilateral cooperation. It has a good pace and is developing in many areas through the leaders of various departments (including the Foreign Ministry), as well as parliaments, regional authorities, political parties, Islamic organisations, business circles, analytical and educational centres. We have a rich "palette" of relationships.

We talked about the need to focus on increasing mutual trade. In recent years, she has "given up" a little. In 2024, the third meeting of the Joint Russian-Malaysian Commission on Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation will be held. In May of this year, Moscow and Kazan hosted meetings of the working groups on education, science and technology, and tourism. This is a useful tool that makes it possible to prepare the plenary session of the Intergovernmental Commission in a high-quality manner.

We continue to strengthen the legal framework. In May of this year, an updated agreement on the avoidance of double taxation was signed. It will come into force in the near future. This will help develop investment cooperation. Several dozen draft intergovernmental and interdepartmental legal acts are in varying degrees of readiness. We agreed to speed up work on them.

Malaysia is interested in expanding cooperation in the field of education. Now about 700 Malaysian students are studying at our universities, mainly in medical specialties. Direct ties have been established between higher educational institutions. In 2023, more than 30 joint documents were signed between the universities of Russia and Malaysia, including the launch of joint educational programs, projects in the field of academic mobility, exchanges and teaching of the Russian and Malay languages.

Mr Hassan and I exchanged notes on cooperation between the Foreign Ministry's Diplomatic Academy and the Malaysian Foreign Ministry's Institute of Diplomacy and International Relations. Interaction will mainly consist of the exchange of experience in the field of training specialists in international relations, training on a mutual basis.

We discussed cooperation in the international arena, primarily at the UN, as well as in ASEAN. On July 26-28, we participated with M. Hassan in the Association's events in Laos. In addition to meetings between partner countries with the "ten", ministerial meetings were also held within the framework of the East Asia Summit and the Regional Security Forum. For us, this interaction is becoming increasingly important, primarily in the context of promoting the initiative to form a collective security system on the Eurasian continent, where ASEAN plays and can play an even more significant role.

Kuala Lumpur will chair the Association in 2025. Before it takes office, we agreed to hold special consultations on preparations for next year's events.

We exchanged views on regional issues. Our Malaysian friends, as well as all ASEAN countries and the Muslim world, are particularly interested in the situation in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict zone and the operations being carried out in the Gaza Strip. We have a common position on the need for an immediate ceasefire and the resolution of the most acute humanitarian problems. After that, it is necessary to immediately begin to agree on the specific parameters for the creation of a Palestinian state.

Malaysia expressed interest in strengthening contacts with BRICS. We actively support this. As chairs, we will contribute to its promotion.

We talked about the situation in Ukraine. We expressed gratitude to our Malaysian colleagues for their balanced and objective position, which is based on an understanding of the root causes of the crisis that has developed as a result of the West's actions to draw Ukraine into NATO and turn it into an "anti-Russia."

I invited my colleague to make a return visit to Russia. I hope that we will continue our communication in the foreseeable future. We have agreed on a plan for consultations between our deputies and other heads of the two ministries on broad international issues.

Question: The United States is maniacally trying to create another testing ground for the countries of the southeastern region. Can we say that cooperation between Russia and Asia will help the region preserve its sovereignty?

Sergey Lavrov: Of course. I think we could see this yesterday and the day before yesterday in Laos at the events of the East Asia Summit and the ASEAN Regional Forum on Security.

We are seen as a balancing and stabilising factor in terms of countering the overly impudent actions of extra-regional powers led by the United States, which are promoting their military infrastructure, including strategic weapons, here. They bring elements of nuclear deterrence to the militarization of Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region, in particular within the framework of the AUKUS project (USA, Britain, Australia), where nuclear submarines with technologies that should be under the control of the IAEA will be supplied. An agreement on joint nuclear deterrence has been concluded between the United States and South Korea. Therefore, there are quite a lot of risks here.

Yesterday I told our colleagues that in NATO, the Americans have long distributed their nuclear weapons to five partners. They call these "joint nuclear missions," in which non-nuclear states have the opportunity to train their military personnel to use and deliver nuclear weapons. If this sad and risky experience is brought to Southeast Asia as well, no one will be better off. There will be more risks.

The Americans are trying to aggravate the situation not only around the Korean Peninsula, but also around the Taiwan Strait, in the South China Sea. They are pushing the countries of the region in every possible way so that they do not look for political and diplomatic solutions with Beijing on the South China Sea. On the contrary, they are trying with all their might to set them up for confrontational approaches and ultimatum demands to the PRC. This is bad.

Our balanced and understandable position always proceeds from the need to create negotiation platforms and negotiate on the basis of a balance of interests. It is perceived with respect. Of course, in contrast, it is closer to our ASEAN friends than the impudent and aggressive policy of the United States and NATO on the military development of this region.

Question: Have you discussed with your Malaysian colleagues President Vladimir Putin's initiative to build a unified Eurasian security system?

Sergey Lavrov: Yes, we discussed this yesterday and the day before yesterday in Laos at the events of the East Asia Summit and the ASEAN Regional Forum on Security.

Our policy was set out in President Vladimir Putin's speech at a meeting with the leadership of the Russian Foreign Ministry. It lies in the fact that the Eurasian continent is the most promising and rapidly developing continent in the world. Colossal natural resources are concentrated here, there are high technologies, there are huge opportunities in terms of the development of transport and logistics infrastructure. It is important to use all these comparative advantages given by God and history in order to more actively exploit the available opportunities for the benefit of the socio-economic development of all our countries and peoples.

We see this process as open to all states and organisations located on the Eurasian continent without exception. This economic, social, transport and infrastructure aspect is one of the central elements in the contacts established between the EAEU, the SCO and ASEAN. We invite other organizations in Eurasia, in particular the GCC, to join this conversation. Such cooperation helps to form what President Vladimir Putin has called the Greater Eurasian Partnership.

Of course, when, in addition to the need to develop the economy and take advantage of these comparative advantages in the Asia-Pacific region, there are attempts to introduce confrontational approaches to the eastern part of Eurasia, including the militarisation of this region (which we have just talked about), it is important to look at how to ensure security in such a way as to minimise risks.

In this regard, we recalled the experience of the OSCE, which was based on the concept of Euro-Atlantic security. In the end, the only point in promoting this model of the OSCE (as well as NATO) was to "crush" everything under itself. The United States has already achieved this goal – it has built the entire West under its leadership. The North Atlantic Alliance is completely subordinate to Washington. The OSCE is also practically "privatized".

This model, as with most other countries, does not suit us. We want a system of indivisible security based on equality. So that no country on the continent strengthens its security at the expense of the security of others. At one time, this principle was proclaimed in the OSCE. The West sabotaged and undermined it. At present, there is no indivisible security in the Euro-Atlantic region.

A new model is needed. We understand that this is not a quick process, because it requires preparatory work – the organisation of forums, the exchange of assessments and opinions. But the process has begun. On October 26, 2023, the first conference on Eurasian security was held in Minsk, which was attended by the countries of the post-Soviet space and Asian states. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó also took part in the meeting. The second conference will be held in Minsk in October this year. The number of participants will expand. We will consistently promote this topic with our Belarusian allies. There is great interest in it.

Question: At night, another escalation took place in the Middle East – a missile attack on a sports ground in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights. The dead and injured are mainly children and teenagers. Israel blames Lebanon, which in turn blames Israel. How likely is a full-scale war between Israel and Lebanon, and can anything be done to prevent further bloodshed?

Sergey Lavrov: So far, there are no prospects for an end to this bloodshed. Israel, through Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, responds to repeated calls for a ceasefire that it will not stop until it completely destroys Hamas. In my view, and this view is shared by many of my colleagues, it is not feasible to completely destroy an organization that has sufficient capacity and support, including in the Muslim world.

Russia condemns all terrorist acts that are undertaken by any structure. For example, we condemned the Hamas terrorist attack on Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, but Israel's retaliatory actions are unacceptable. They are a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and constitute a collective punishment of the people, prohibited by international conventions.

I am following how some countries are trying to prepare new compromise proposals that provide for a phased cessation of violence, taking into account the fact that Israel refuses to implement an immediate ceasefire. Arab countries such as Egypt and Qatar are also working. They hold meetings with both Americans and Israelis. However, the Palestinians themselves have been excluded from the contacts that are ultimately destined to determine their fate. We will continue to contribute to the restoration of Palestinian unity.

In late February and early March of this year, a useful meeting of all Palestinian factions took place in Moscow. Recently, China organized a meeting of representatives of all Palestinian movements, and a declaration was signed. But the process is not complete.

I am convinced that the main thing for a long-term solution to the situation in the Middle East is to implement the UN Security Council resolutions on the creation of a Palestinian state as soon as possible. This cannot be done without restoring Palestinian unity, so that they themselves determine the forms in which they will agree among themselves on organizing the life of their own people within the framework of a sovereign state. So far, this goal has not been achieved. We need to continue efforts in this direction.

The bloodshed is a tragedy for the Palestinian people. In 10 months, 40 thousand people died, mainly women and children. The Russian Foreign Minister's Special Representative for the Middle East Settlement Vyacheslav Safronkov was in Israel the other day and, together with our ambassador, spoke with his Israeli colleagues and conveyed relevant signals. We will continue this work. So far, efforts to stop the bloodshed have failed.

Question: We usually see you at ASEAN events in the national shirts of Asian countries, as was the case in Laos. But we have already flown to Malaysia. Tell me, where did today's shirt come from?

Sergey Lavrov: I am in Malaysia. The host party tries to add color. Yesterday, when I parted ways with my Malaysian colleague in Vientiane, he asked if I would be comfortable negotiating in Malaysia in national shirts. I agreed. We are polite people. It's nice.

Somewhere there’s a psychological distinction between the dull drab colors favored for western business suits and the “national” wear of most other nations. The message to the press differed little from the post-ASEAN meeting presser. Russia’s educational exchange soft power is very strong with Malaysia, and the educational ties between its foreign service universities will be very beneficial for both as the languages of the many different Malay and Indonesian peoples are vast and complex, and Russia prides itself on having diplomats able to speak the host nation’s language fluently, and of course more are needed to conduct business. There’s a distinct advantage when you’re able to support your nationals’ doing business by being able to speak directly with the native side instead of demanding they learn English or French, As Lavrov said, Russians are polite people.

I do hope ASEAN nations recall the oppression visited by their colonial masters and by the demands from the CIA/MI6 during the Anti-Communist Crusade and the millions of innocents killed in the process. Most ought to know that the Aussies won’t submit to IAEA oversite of its nuclear dealings with the Outlaw US Empire despite the regulations it’s obliged to follow given the treaties they’ve signed. Of course, given the woeful state of UK and Outlaw US Empire technical abilities and their rapid decline, they may never be able to manufacture the submarines in question given that so many supply chains include Chinese components and US law says they can’t be used—Vast folly!

History of technology as told from the US POV tends to cancel other accomplishments made before or are superior to what was done within the USA by people located there, with Elon Musk being yet another example—an immigrant now located in Texas having self-exiled himself and all his businesses from California. But is Texas really all that much better? It takes a certain amount of brains and abilities to underpin Empire and both are rapidly trending downward in the outlaw US Empire as proven by its elites’ behaviors and the lack of any significant intellectual heft. Anyone can wield a club, but very few know how to employ it deftly—it lacks adroitness.

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