Sergey Lavrov: “The high level of the traditionally friendly Russian-Egyptian relations”

Sergey with Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation, and Egyptian Expatriates of the Arab Republic of Egypt Badr Abdelatty
Photo: MFA

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s statement and answers to media questions at a joint news conference following talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation, and Egyptian Expatriates of the Arab Republic of Egypt Badr Abdelatty.

- Ladies and gentlemen, I held substantive and insightful talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation, and Egyptian Expatriates of the Arab Republic of Egypt Badr Abdelatty.

As you may be aware, yesterday my colleague was received by the President of the Russian Federation. During his visit to Moscow, he also met with Chairman of the State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Sergey Shoigu, and Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk.

As you no doubt understand, such a substantive programme in itself clearly reveals the high level of the traditionally friendly Russian-Egyptian relations. We welcomed the great strides our relations made in accordance with the Treaty on Comprehensive Partnership and Strategic Cooperation signed by our leaders in Sochi in 2018.

We noted with satisfaction the positive dynamics of trade, economic, and investment interaction. As of late 2025, bilateral trade exceeded $10 billion, up 12 percent on the year before.

We highly value the productive work of the Joint Russian-Egyptian Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation. It met for the 15th time in Moscow on May 14, 2025. We are preparing the next meeting in Egypt. Today, we confirmed the important coordinating role of this body in expanding practical bilateral cooperation.

We discussed the status of the implementation of flagship joint infrastructure projects, primarily the construction of the El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant and the creation of the Russian industrial zone in the Suez Canal Economic Zone. We focused in particular on the prospects for expanding supplies of Russian agricultural products and energy.

We discussed at length current international and regional issues and reaffirmed our shared commitment to continuing close coordination at the UN and other multilateral platforms.

We placed great emphasis on the most acute crisis and the unprecedented escalation in the Persian Gulf that broke out as a result of unprovoked aggression by the United States and Israel against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Both Russia and Egypt are in favour of an immediate cessation of hostilities and a return to the political and diplomatic process in order to resolve existing differences while ensuring the security interests of all countries in the region without exception, including friendly Arab countries of the Gulf such as Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and, of course, the Islamic Republic of Iran.

We reviewed the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which is gradually slipping from the headlines and, in my view, undeservedly so, because the problem did not go anywhere. We underscored the importance of the efforts to ensure sustainability of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip that was agreed upon in October 2025 largely thanks to Egypt’s mediation efforts.

We share concern over the developments on the West Bank of the Jordan River, where the Israeli authorities are consistently ratcheting up administrative and legal control by establishing greater number of settlements. We share a common conviction that there is no alternative to a comprehensive solution to the Palestinian issue on the existing and still valid international legal basis, with the central two-state formula.

We discussed the state of affairs in Sudan and noted the urgency of developing coordinated approaches by the international community to a peaceful settlement of the military-political conflict that has been ongoing for three years now. We reaffirmed our shared position in favour of preserving unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Sudan.

We also touched upon the situation in Libya with its ongoing deep internal political split in the wake of Western aggression against that country in 2011. We highlighted the urgency of advancing a comprehensive political settlement in Libya under the leading role of the UN in order to find a solution that takes into account the positions of all ethnic, religious, and political groups in the country, including the main groups in eastern and western Libya. We see eye to eye on his matter.

We discussed a number of Russia-African Union practical cooperation issues and touched upon preparations for the 3rd summit of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum to be held in Moscow in the second half of the year.

We discussed the development of Russia’s relations with the League of Arab States headquartered in Cairo. This year, we plan to hold a Russian-Arab Cooperation Forum at the level of foreign ministers.

We expressed appreciation to our colleagues for Egypt’s objective and balanced position on the situation in and around Ukraine. We provided detailed information about Russia’s principled approaches to the Ukraine crisis, including developments on the ground and efforts to resolve the conflict based on eliminating its underlying causes. This is a point of principle.

Overall, we are mutually satisfied with the way we organised our work today, and we will continue working like that it in the interest of further expanding multifaceted Russian-Egyptian cooperation. I am grateful to my colleague and friend Badr Abdelatty.

Question (retranslated from Arabic): You mentioned important regional issues. In light of the rapidly developing situation in the Middle East, among the other issues you discussed was the question of regional security in the context of the situation in Iran and the Gaza Strip.

What are the prospects for strengthening mutual understanding and coordination between Russia and Egypt on these matters? Is there any understanding regarding a joint response to these challenges?

Sergey Lavrov: I could elaborate on this at great length. I will try not to go over everything that we read about in the news daily.

Disquieting news is coming from the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Peninsula, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and other hotspots that we discussed today.

Egypt and Russia have a strategic alignment of approaches. There may always be subtle differences which is inevitable. But the grand strategy of the foreign policy of the Russian Federation and the Arab Republic of Egypt lies in bringing the conflicting parties in any crisis to dialogue.

This is not always an easy thing to accomplish, because sometimes differences are provoked to such a major extent (as a rule, by external forces) that it becomes difficult even to establish communication. We are observing this in a number of cases mentioned today. However, this does not negate the main point which is that water wears down rock, as the saying goes.

We must strive for the cessation of hostilities and the start of negotiations. This is the only way to find out how sincere the parties are in their desire for peace and a good future for their citizens.

We appreciate Egypt’s role as a mediator in a number of crisis situations, providing the Cairo platform for various meetings on a number of African crises. Egypt consistently shows initiative on other issues as well. Not every such effort is loudly announced. For our Egyptian colleagues, as for us, the main thing is not to capture some sensational “headline effect” (forgive me the language), but to achieve a genuine result.

Real work doesn’t like publicity. Those who engage in real work rather than self-promotion will ultimately succeed.

Question: Moscow has consistently called for prioritising political and diplomatic settlement in the Middle East, calling for a ceasefire to prevent a full-scale military conflict in the region. Do you observe any response to Russian initiatives from the parties to the conflict? Or are we on the verge of the conflict entering a more dangerous phase? How is work progressing on Bahrain’s proposal for a draft resolution on the protection of commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz? Where does Russia stand on this issue?

Sergey Lavrov: We are not hiding our position and have been stating it regularly since the beginning of the US-Israeli aggression against Iran on February 28. The Foreign Ministry comments on and presents assessments of the ongoing events. The Presidential Executive Office and President Putin himself regularly address this topic in contacts with their counterparts.

In recent days, President Putin has held several telephone conversations with the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Earlier, he spoke with the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. At the level of foreign ministers, we are working in close contact with our Iranian colleagues as well. Yesterday, April 2, I got on the phone with Foreign Minister of Iran Abbas Araghchi. Of course, we are also maintaining contacts with our friends from the Gulf countries. On Monday, March 30, a videoconference took place during which we discussed in detail for more than two hours the current situation, including how it is being discussed at the UN Security Council.

One can discuss the draft resolution submitted by Bahrain, which has been under consideration by the UN Security Council for several days now. Many do exactly that. They take the text and begin discussing it. This is the professional approach practised by those who are ultimately responsible for the product issued by the UN Security Council. But even from this purely expert point of view, a large number of issues become apparent.

If we look past the description of the difficulties such as calls on Iran not to respond to strikes on its territory, the key objective and central element of this resolution is the paragraph authorising all stakeholder states, whether acting individually or as part of a coalition, to take all necessary measures to ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. During the negotiations, the wording “all necessary defensive measures” was added, but immediately qualified by the phrase “proportionate to the circumstances.”

Who will determine these circumstances? Naturally, it will be the same countries that are granted the right to take all “necessary defensive measures.” We know how, in the past, our Western colleagues have treated what appeared to be purely defensive UN Security Council resolutions. They were immediately turned upside down and used to substantiate their aggressive actions.

The second point is that these measures are authorised for the stakeholder countries, but they will act “proportionately to the circumstances” on the territory of coastal Gulf countries that will not themselves participate in these “defensive measures.” This constitutes direct violation of their sovereignty. Such a Security Council resolution is unlikely to increase the chances of a peaceful settlement, not to mention the credibility of this body.

All this is taking place against the backdrop of rhetoric coming from Washington, including assertions by US President Trump that talks are underway and that the people the Americans are talking with are “much more reasonable” and that they listen and respond. The Iranians do not deny the fact of contacts, although they say these are not talks but an exchange of positions. Nevertheless, it is already some kind of process. The day before yesterday, President Trump said that as soon as they complete military operations (in his words, almost all objectives have been achieved), navigation in the Strait of Hormuz will immediately resume meaning that the problem is not about making demands of Iran. It is imperative to stop military actions and the regime of the strait which is fully based on the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which defines all norms of navigation in times of peace, will be restored. It does not apply in wartime.

In contacts with their Gulf partners, our Chinese colleagues emphasise the same point that it is necessary to stop hostilities in order to resume navigation. When we are urged to adopt this resolution at the height of what the United States calls negotiations (clearly, adopting this resolution, which does not even mention the fact that Iran was the victim of aggression, will antagonise the authorities in Tehran), this suggests that someone wants to undermine the emerging, still very fragile prospects for negotiations if, of course, all those who speak of peaceful talks genuinely want them. Undermining such intentions would be entirely wrong.

If, however, the rhetoric about talks will once again be used as cover for launching another attack on Iran (as was the case in June 2025 and February of this year), then this resolution is designed to legitimise, after the fact, the aggression against Iran.

My final point in this regard concerns legal interpretation. Our friends in the Gulf are telling us that Iran attacked them and that they are, therefore, entitled to defends themselves under Article 51 of the UN Charter. This is true. This article exists. However, in order to invoke it and to take specific steps in order to exercise the right to self-defence, no UN Security Council resolution is required.

When the United States and Israel began attacking Iran, they publicly stated that it was an exercise of the right to self-defence. When asked how so since Iran did not attack them, they said Article 51 also provided for preventive defensive action aimed at decapitating a potential attacker, even if no such plans existed.

During the videoconference, I asked our friends from the Gulf whether Iran had attacked them. No such facts were presented. In response, the view was expressed that throughout its existence the Islamic Republic of Iran had always intended to attack its neighbours. A “convenient” opportunity subsequently arose when the country was attacked by the Americans and Israelis, and Iran began targeting Arab countries.

These arguments may enter the media space with the best of intentions, but the end result is the same. This resolution was probably conceived with good intentions, yet it may either be used to derail the still fragile prospects for negotiations or to legitimise aggression against Iran after the fact.

I hope that all our detailed clarifications have been heard by our friends in the Gulf and, more broadly, in the Arab world.

Question: How is cooperation between Russia and Egypt going in the cultural and humanitarian sphere, and will the Intervision contest take place this year? How is preparation progressing? Is the Egyptian side ready to send its participant?

Sergey Lavrov: Our cultural and humanitarian relations are at a very high level, though we still can do more. Today we discussed additional projects in this sphere that are already under consideration and will certainly be implemented. I am sure you are aware of the long-standing traditions of our cooperation in higher education. Thousands upon thousands of Egyptians have received education in our country (both in the USSR and in the Russian Federation). The Association of Graduates of Russian Higher Education Institutions operates in Egypt. Our embassy maintains close contacts with former students, who naturally serve as an additional link at the level of civil society, cultural institutions and organisations. Universities have long established ties with each other, exchanging experience. Tours of performing artists and cultural exchanges are held as well.

You mentioned the Intervision competition. Indeed, last year it was held for the first time in a new format in Moscow. Twenty-two countries, including the Arab Republic of Egypt, sent their performers. The representative of Vietnam won that competition. Since all participants agreed to make the contest annual, at the end of 2025 our Saudi friends announced they would host this year’s Intervision. I hope the situation around the Persian Gulf will stabilise and the Russian cultural organisation in charge of this event will resume contacts with their Saudi colleagues. We expect that our Egyptian friends will once again be represented at this event.

Let me mention another upcoming event which is the World Youth Festival in Yekaterinburg in September 2026. Egyptian delegates have been invited, and I am confident they will take part in what will truly be a major celebration.

Cooperation in the humanitarian sphere also includes interaction between your colleagues – journalists and media corporations. TASS, RT Arabic and Sputnik Arabic operate successfully in Egypt. Today we agreed that cooperation between our news agencies will continue to strengthen. We will assist each other in setting up engaging meetings for journalists from both countries.

Speaking of the media, in 2024, on our initiative, the Global Fact-Checking Network was established. It has already held several international forums. The third international forum titled “Dialogue on Fake News” took place in October 2025.

There is no need to explain how, in today’s world, lying is used not “for salvation,” as the Russian proverb goes, but to cause direct harm and to inflict damage by those who bear no responsibility for anything. Falsehood is used to shift blame and to stage provocations “under a false flag.” Our Western colleagues have certainly excelled in this “art.” The above Fact-Checking Network is combatting this “scourge” that has flooded the media space. It brings together representatives from more than 50 countries, with a core group of over 100 experts. Egypt actively participated in the most recent conference held in Moscow in October 2025. I am confident that our cooperation in this area will continue.

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