Question: February 10 is Diplomats’ Day. In the Soviet era, it was traditional to report on achievements ahead of professional holidays. Do you have any achievements to report today? Do you have any positive news for the people?

Sergey Lavrov: Frankly, I never liked that tradition. Instead, you should report on the fulfilment of the authorities’ instructions, which usually include deadlines, so it doesn’t matter if it’s a holiday or just an ordinary day: the deadlines have been set out in the documents signed by the head of state.

I won’t speak about what we consider important, but the fact that diplomatic efforts to settle the issue of Iran’s nuclear programme were concluded last year, and the relevant agreement is being implemented is obviously one of our main achievements, considering that the crisis lasted for over 10 years and was a major source of irritation in international relations.

Last year we also completed chemical demilitarisation in Syria, also at Russia’s initiative. I’d like to remind you that the agreement to this effect was reached between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the G20 summit in St Petersburg in 2013. This allowed us, first, to liquidate very dangerous abandoned chemical munitions, and second, to prevent military strikes at Syria, at least for a time.

I should highlight these two elements separately, but the fight against terrorism is the most important of our current priorities. We still have much to do on this trek, despite considerable successes in fighting ISIS in Syria. Our efforts would have been more effective and would have achieved their goal much sooner had the United States and the other members of the coalition it leads responded to our numerous proposals to develop true cooperation rather than simply coordinate procedures to avoid air accidents. We have made such proposals ever since the start of the Russian Aerospace Forces’ operation in Syria. We continue to discuss this cooperation with the Americans, who are seemingly coming to understand that rejecting such cooperation would be counterproductive. But we haven’t achieved any practical results yet.

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