WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.769 Colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, good evening, 2 00:00:07.769 --> 00:00:14.558 I will talk briefly about our impressions of the Paris conference. 3 00:00:14.558 --> 00:00:20.768 This is a huge, major international event. 4 00:00:20.768 --> 00:00:26.625 I want to congratulate our French friends on the organisation of this 5 00:00:26.625 --> 00:00:30.976 work: everything is very smart and easy, convenient, 6 00:00:30.976 --> 00:00:35.327 and most importantly, I hope, will yield the result. 7 00:00:35.327 --> 00:00:38.673 I will repeat what I said in my speech – 8 00:00:38.673 --> 00:00:44.279 namely, that Russia has not only met the requirements of the Kyoto 9 00:00:44.279 --> 00:00:46.610 Protocol, but has done even more. 10 00:00:46.610 --> 00:00:50.001 We not only maintained the 1990 emission levels, 11 00:00:50.001 --> 00:00:51.767 we actually reduced them. 12 00:00:51.767 --> 00:00:54.310 At the same time, as I already said, 13 00:00:54.310 --> 00:00:57.206 we nearly doubled GDP during this period. 14 00:00:57.206 --> 00:01:01.445 In other words, it is possible to develop the economy while 15 00:01:01.445 --> 00:01:03.352 preserving the environment. 16 00:01:03.352 --> 00:01:08.085 And at the next stage, Russia will reduce emissions to 70% of 1990 17 00:01:08.085 --> 00:01:12.535 levels – that will be our contribution, and a very serious one. 18 00:01:12.535 --> 00:01:16.562 So I hope that the conference will end on the right note, 19 00:01:16.562 --> 00:01:21.365 with the signing of a corresponding agreement that will be in force 20 00:01:21.365 --> 00:01:24.474 after 2020, when the Kyoto Protocol expires. 21 00:01:24.474 --> 00:01:27.864 Russia intends to make some serious commitments. 22 00:01:27.864 --> 00:01:32.103 We are confident that we will fulfil all these commitments – 23 00:01:32.103 --> 00:01:37.189 hoping, of course, that these commitments are legally binding and apply 24 00:01:37.189 --> 00:01:43.613 to all the world’s nations, taking into account what we agreed upon, 25 00:01:43.613 --> 00:01:51.212 including in Bashkortostan at the BRICS summit, 26 00:01:51.212 --> 00:01:56.193 where we worked out common approaches to resolving various 27 00:01:56.193 --> 00:01:57.712 global challenges. 28 00:01:57.712 --> 00:02:02.710 One of these problems is certainly that of limiting organic emissions 29 00:02:02.710 --> 00:02:07.637 and keeping global warming within an increase to two degrees Celsius. 30 00:02:07.637 --> 00:02:11.421 I think this is a realistic plan and we are prepared 31 00:02:11.421 --> 00:02:14.491 to work on this together with our partners. 32 00:02:14.491 --> 00:02:19.347 During today’s visit to Paris, I also had a series of meetings with 33 00:02:19.347 --> 00:02:22.488 colleagues, including the President of Peru, 34 00:02:22.488 --> 00:02:25.773 the President of the United States of America, 35 00:02:25.773 --> 00:02:30.628 the Chancellor of Germany, the President of the European Commission, 36 00:02:30.628 --> 00:02:36.347 the President of South Korea and the Prime Minister of Israel. 37 00:02:36.347 --> 00:02:42.435 We discussed bilateral issues, developing bilateral relations and, 38 00:02:42.435 --> 00:02:46.678 of course, the most pressing current problems, 39 00:02:46.678 --> 00:02:52.275 first and foremost the Syrian issue and options for its settlement. 40 00:02:52.275 --> 00:02:57.674 Overall, I feel we are on the same wavelength and all assume that we 41 00:02:57.674 --> 00:03:02.994 can resolve the Syrian conflict exclusively through political means. 42 00:03:02.994 --> 00:03:07.063 We are currently seeking a platform to move forward. 43 00:03:07.063 --> 00:03:12.305 I hope that our foreign ministers will be able to find more common 44 00:03:12.305 --> 00:03:15.513 ground at the upcoming meeting in Vienna; 45 00:03:15.513 --> 00:03:18.877 I think we have the prerequisites for this. 46 00:03:18.877 --> 00:03:21.146 Thank you for your attention. 47 00:03:21.146 --> 00:03:26.247 Mr President, I want to ask why you did not arrive in time 48 00:03:26.247 --> 00:03:29.187 for the opening of the conference, 49 00:03:29.187 --> 00:03:35.153 why you did not participate in the moment of silence for the victims 50 00:03:35.153 --> 00:03:39.908 of the Paris terrorist attacks and did not participate 51 00:03:39.908 --> 00:03:42.243 in the group photo session. 52 00:03:42.243 --> 00:03:45.096 This is a purely technical issue. 53 00:03:45.096 --> 00:03:48.597 You know how we feel about the terrorist attacks and what is happening 54 00:03:48.597 --> 00:03:50.884 as a result of those attacks. 55 00:03:50.884 --> 00:03:55.953 We were among the first to express our condolences to the French people 56 00:03:55.953 --> 00:03:58.135 following the attacks in Paris. 57 00:03:58.135 --> 00:04:02.922 Russia has dealt with terrorist attacks many times and has had many 58 00:04:02.922 --> 00:04:05.809 victims, including in the latest attack – 59 00:04:05.809 --> 00:04:08.976 one of the biggest catastrophes of its kind – 60 00:04:08.976 --> 00:04:13.623 the destruction of our civilian aircraft over the Sinai Peninsula. 61 00:04:13.623 --> 00:04:18.058 As you know, President Hollande recently visited Moscow and we 62 00:04:18.058 --> 00:04:23.746 discussed all this in detail; all this is the subject 63 00:04:23.746 --> 00:04:27.779 of our constant dialogue. 64 00:04:27.779 --> 00:04:32.932 The reason for my not being present for the photo session or any 65 00:04:32.932 --> 00:04:38.482 rituals is, I repeat again, purely technical and is due to my working 66 00:04:38.482 --> 00:04:43.953 schedule and the need to complete the discussions with my colleagues, 67 00:04:43.953 --> 00:04:48.393 to discuss in full detail everything we had to say here, 68 00:04:48.393 --> 00:04:54.102 at the session for which I came here, and during the bilateral meetings. 69 00:04:54.102 --> 00:04:59.043 And I hope that our cooperation with French colleagues will go farther 70 00:04:59.043 --> 00:05:03.916 than with many others, that we will fight terrorism in Syria together 71 00:05:03.916 --> 00:05:08.509 on a practical level – I mean the agreements between our military 72 00:05:08.509 --> 00:05:11.085 agencies to coordinate their actions. 73 00:05:11.085 --> 00:05:12.964 Good evening, Mr President. 74 00:05:12.964 --> 00:05:17.836 What do you believe is the main obstacle to agreeing on a new climate 75 00:05:17.836 --> 00:05:22.430 protocol? For example, how can we settle the difference in quotas 76 00:05:22.430 --> 00:05:27.093 for developed and developing nations? What is your opinion on this? 77 00:05:27.093 --> 00:05:29.668 It’s always about seeking compromise. 78 00:05:29.668 --> 00:05:34.540 What is the essence of the developing nations’ position? The position 79 00:05:34.540 --> 00:05:39.065 is well-known to all, that nations with a developed economy have 80 00:05:39.065 --> 00:05:42.406 already covered a certain ground of development, 81 00:05:42.406 --> 00:05:47.138 achieved certain results and attained a certain production capacity 82 00:05:47.138 --> 00:05:51.802 and technological development, and if the heavy burden of emission 83 00:05:51.802 --> 00:05:57.073 restrictions is placed on developing economies, 84 00:05:57.073 --> 00:06:01.747 having to do with paying fines and so on, 85 00:06:01.747 --> 00:06:06.414 this will be one of the ways to hinder their development. 86 00:06:06.414 --> 00:06:11.752 Of course, that is precisely why we all say we should provide 87 00:06:11.752 --> 00:06:16.660 assistance to developing economies through UN mechanisms, 88 00:06:16.660 --> 00:06:22.687 so they can reach a higher level of technological development and not 89 00:06:22.687 --> 00:06:28.822 have their hands and feet tied by emissions-related limitations. 90 00:06:28.822 --> 00:06:32.926 If we find that compromise – and we are close to it – 91 00:06:32.926 --> 00:06:35.229 then success is guaranteed. 92 00:06:41.269 --> 00:06:43.144 Good evening, Mr President. 93 00:06:43.144 --> 00:06:47.934 Many journalists want to know, did you have a meeting with President 94 00:06:47.934 --> 00:06:52.794 of Turkey Mr Erdogan today? And how often was the topic of the downed 95 00:06:52.794 --> 00:06:56.682 Russian plane brought up in your dialogues and contacts 96 00:06:56.682 --> 00:06:58.487 with other heads of state? 97 00:06:58.487 --> 00:07:01.542 I did not meet with the President of Turkey; 98 00:07:01.542 --> 00:07:05.291 we did not see one another and did not have a meeting. 99 00:07:05.291 --> 00:07:09.179 As for the topic of the downed Russian plane, naturally, 100 00:07:09.179 --> 00:07:13.483 this topic came up during nearly all of my bilateral meetings; 101 00:07:13.483 --> 00:07:19.491 I provided the corresponding clarifications and talked 102 00:07:19.491 --> 00:07:26.383 about what happened. But it seems to me – in fact, I saw this – 103 00:07:26.383 --> 00:07:34.987 all my colleagues listened carefully and the overwhelming majority 104 00:07:34.987 --> 00:07:43.230 share the view that there was no need to strike an unprotected Russian 105 00:07:43.230 --> 00:07:49.230 bomber that did not threaten Turkey. 106 00:07:49.230 --> 00:07:51.795 I would like to ask a clarifying question that is probably of interest 107 00:07:51.795 --> 00:07:52.519 to colleagues as well. 108 00:07:52.519 --> 00:07:56.055 A week has passed since the attack on the Russian plane. 109 00:07:56.055 --> 00:07:59.195 Have you personally been able to understand why 110 00:07:59.195 --> 00:08:01.832 the President of Turkey took this step? 111 00:08:01.832 --> 00:08:06.294 We have heard from the Turkish side that it was not the President 112 00:08:06.294 --> 00:08:08.457 of Turkey who made the decision, 113 00:08:08.457 --> 00:08:11.567 that the decision was made by other officials. 114 00:08:11.567 --> 00:08:14.475 This does not have much significance to us. 115 00:08:14.475 --> 00:08:19.830 What is important is that this criminal action resulted in the death 116 00:08:19.830 --> 00:08:25.340 of two of our service members: the pilot in command and a marine corps 117 00:08:25.340 --> 00:08:28.522 member who was a part of the rescue unit. 118 00:08:28.522 --> 00:08:32.480 As for why they did it, you would need to ask them. 119 00:08:32.480 --> 00:08:34.188 It was a huge mistake. 120 00:08:34.188 --> 00:08:37.990 Two questions, one related to diplomacy and the other 121 00:08:37.990 --> 00:08:39.820 concerning climate change. 122 00:08:39.820 --> 00:08:44.255 First, what can you say about the planned blockade with regard 123 00:08:44.255 --> 00:08:49.325 to the formation of a broad anti-terrorist coalition? How do you assess 124 00:08:49.325 --> 00:08:51.789 the current situation in this area? 125 00:08:51.789 --> 00:08:55.238 And second, as far as I understand, Mr President, 126 00:08:55.238 --> 00:08:59.604 you spoke about the importance of forests to preserve climate 127 00:08:59.604 --> 00:09:02.701 stability. According to statistics, in 2013, 128 00:09:02.701 --> 00:09:05.517 the area of forests in Russia decreased. 129 00:09:05.517 --> 00:09:08.122 How do you reconcile these two facts? 130 00:09:08.122 --> 00:09:14.444 As far as forests are concerned, they act to absorb emissions, 131 00:09:14.444 --> 00:09:21.479 soaking them up like a sponge, it is true that we have faced certain 132 00:09:21.479 --> 00:09:26.402 problems, particularly of a technological and environmental nature. 133 00:09:26.402 --> 00:09:29.468 We are talking about climate change. 134 00:09:29.468 --> 00:09:38.484 When people talk about forest fires, particularly in northern Russia, 135 00:09:38.484 --> 00:09:42.050 it is, in part, the result of global climate change. 136 00:09:42.050 --> 00:09:46.782 This is the result of climate change when we witness other climactic 137 00:09:46.782 --> 00:09:51.377 or unusual phenomena in the form of hurricanes of a magnitude that 138 00:09:51.377 --> 00:09:53.708 mankind has never seen, et cetera. 139 00:09:53.708 --> 00:09:56.931 All this is a manifestation of the changes due, 140 00:09:56.931 --> 00:10:00.154 for example, to melting glaciers in the Arctic. 141 00:10:00.154 --> 00:10:02.554 The preservation of these forests – 142 00:10:02.554 --> 00:10:05.709 and putting out forest fires when they occur – 143 00:10:05.709 --> 00:10:08.520 requires significant financial resources. 144 00:10:08.520 --> 00:10:13.115 These are the planet’s “lungs,” so we need corresponding treatment 145 00:10:13.115 --> 00:10:15.035 to keep them in good health. 146 00:10:15.035 --> 00:10:19.629 So indeed, we link the forests to the commitments to cut emissions. 147 00:10:19.629 --> 00:10:23.538 And overall, the overwhelming majority of our colleagues 148 00:10:23.538 --> 00:10:25.321 on the global arena agree. 149 00:10:25.321 --> 00:10:28.819 Now, as far as creating a broad coalition to fight 150 00:10:28.819 --> 00:10:30.396 terrorism is concerned. 151 00:10:30.396 --> 00:10:35.265 You know, I spoke about this at the 70th anniversary session of the UN 152 00:10:35.265 --> 00:10:39.016 General Assembly: we have always supported this. 153 00:10:39.016 --> 00:10:44.409 But we cannot achieve this until somebody uses part of the terrorist 154 00:10:44.409 --> 00:10:48.473 organisations to achieve short-term political goals, 155 00:10:48.473 --> 00:10:53.474 until we fulfil the UN Security Council resolutions on stopping 156 00:10:53.474 --> 00:10:57.460 the sale of oil unlawfully extracted by terrorists, 157 00:10:57.460 --> 00:11:01.872 the illegal sale of the works of art, and so on. 158 00:11:01.872 --> 00:11:06.100 We have just received additional information proving that 159 00:11:06.100 --> 00:11:08.725 unfortunately, large volumes of oil, 160 00:11:08.725 --> 00:11:13.902 industrial volumes coming from oil fields controlled by ISIS and other 161 00:11:13.902 --> 00:11:17.547 terrorist organisations, enter Turkey’s territory. 162 00:11:17.547 --> 00:11:22.797 And we have every reason to believe that the decision to shoot down our 163 00:11:22.797 --> 00:11:27.828 plane was dictated by the desire to ensure the security of these oil 164 00:11:27.828 --> 00:11:32.421 supply routes to Turkey – to the ports where it is shipped out 165 00:11:32.421 --> 00:11:37.015 in tankers, – while protecting the Turkmen is merely a pretext. 166 00:11:37.015 --> 00:11:44.242 And, of course, you know that our pilots write “For our people!” 167 00:11:44.242 --> 00:11:48.023 on their missiles; in other words, 168 00:11:48.023 --> 00:11:52.085 this is revenge for our citizens who died over Sinai. 169 00:11:52.085 --> 00:11:55.019 They also write “For Paris!” on the missiles, 170 00:11:55.019 --> 00:11:58.149 as a revenge for the terrorist attacks in Paris. 171 00:11:58.149 --> 00:12:01.996 And yet, this bomber is shot down by the Turkish air force. 172 00:12:01.996 --> 00:12:06.300 What can we discuss here? What broad coalition? But we will still 173 00:12:06.300 --> 00:12:10.082 strive toward creating a truly effective, broad coalition, 174 00:12:10.082 --> 00:12:14.191 so that regional, local and financial interests will fade into 175 00:12:14.191 --> 00:12:21.012 the background against the global threat of terrorism. 176 00:12:21.012 --> 00:12:25.797 Mr President, we know that you had a meeting with President Obama 177 00:12:25.797 --> 00:12:30.074 today. What did you discuss, and did you agree on anything? 178 00:12:30.074 --> 00:12:33.047 We talked first and foremost about Syria, 179 00:12:33.047 --> 00:12:37.904 as well as things that should be at the forefront of our attention 180 00:12:37.904 --> 00:12:42.617 in the near future, including the list of what we consider to be 181 00:12:42.617 --> 00:12:47.619 terrorist organisations and the list of organisations that represent 182 00:12:47.619 --> 00:12:50.664 the healthy part of the Syrian opposition. 183 00:12:50.664 --> 00:12:55.232 We also talked about our joint actions on this political track. 184 00:12:55.232 --> 00:13:00.234 And overall, I think we have an understanding of where we need to go. 185 00:13:00.234 --> 00:13:04.584 If we are talking about the need for a political settlement, 186 00:13:04.584 --> 00:13:07.701 then we need to work on a new constitution, 187 00:13:07.701 --> 00:13:11.036 new elections and monitoring of their results. 188 00:13:11.036 --> 00:13:15.459 And part of the discussion focused on settling the situation 189 00:13:15.459 --> 00:13:20.461 in southeast Ukraine; we discussed the need for full compliance with 190 00:13:20.461 --> 00:13:22.926 the Minsk agreements by all sides. 191 00:13:22.926 --> 00:13:27.639 Mr President, overall, are you upset with the state of bilateral 192 00:13:27.639 --> 00:13:30.031 relations with Turkey? After all, 193 00:13:30.031 --> 00:13:33.149 the level of partnership was unprecedented, 194 00:13:33.149 --> 00:13:36.048 and had taken decades of work. Now what? 195 00:13:36.048 --> 00:13:40.181 I think we are all upset, and I am personally very upset, 196 00:13:40.181 --> 00:13:44.821 because I myself did a great deal to build those relations over 197 00:13:44.821 --> 00:13:47.431 the course of a long period of time. 198 00:13:47.431 --> 00:13:52.578 But there are problems that occurred long ago and which we were trying 199 00:13:52.578 --> 00:13:56.493 to resolve through dialogue with our Turkish partners. 200 00:13:56.493 --> 00:14:01.641 For example, we have long asked them to pay attention to the fact that 201 00:14:01.641 --> 00:14:06.788 representatives of terrorist organisations that fought or try to fight 202 00:14:06.788 --> 00:14:10.485 us with weapons in hand in certain Russian regions, 203 00:14:10.485 --> 00:14:14.980 including in the North Caucasus, emerge on Turkey’s territory. 204 00:14:14.980 --> 00:14:17.228 We asked to stop this practice, 205 00:14:17.228 --> 00:14:21.288 but nevertheless have established that they are located 206 00:14:21.288 --> 00:14:24.260 on the territory of the Turkish Republic, 207 00:14:24.260 --> 00:14:28.828 residing in regions guarded by special services and the police, 208 00:14:28.828 --> 00:14:33.830 and later, using the visa-free regime, appear again on our territory, 209 00:14:33.830 --> 00:14:36.150 where we continue to fight them. 210 00:14:36.150 --> 00:14:39.050 This has been happening for a long time, 211 00:14:39.050 --> 00:14:44.270 and we have repeatedly asked questions at the level of special services 212 00:14:44.270 --> 00:14:46.807 through so-called partner channels, 213 00:14:46.807 --> 00:14:51.665 as well as at the foreign ministry level and the highest political 214 00:14:51.665 --> 00:14:55.870 level. Unfortunately, we did not see any partner-oriented 215 00:14:55.870 --> 00:14:57.682 reaction to our concerns. 216 00:14:57.682 --> 00:15:02.902 Thus, many questions that needed to be resolved one way or another have 217 00:15:02.902 --> 00:15:04.860 been brewing for some time. 218 00:15:04.860 --> 00:15:09.645 It is unfortunate that we must resolve them in such circumstances, 219 00:15:09.645 --> 00:15:13.342 but this is not our fault, this was not our choice. 220 00:15:13.342 --> 00:15:17.039 Let’s end here. Thank you, and have a good evening.