Russia: Moscow 'very worried' over US policy reversal on Israeli settlements - Lavrov

*NO CUTAWAYS AT SOURCE*
W/S Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa arriving, Moscow
SOT, Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister (Russian): "We have common positions regarding the situation of the Arab-Israeli settlement, including taking into account attempts to revise the existing international legal framework for the settlement. And, of course, we are very worried about the latest development of events, I mean the US position on the rejection of all decisions of the international community, on mandatory decisions of the UN Security Council regarding the need to stop Israeli settlement activities and invalidate the situation when land on the West Bank is under Israeli occupation. We believe that only direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians are accepted. Only negotiations which are aimed at achieving balance and interests based on decisions that have been already taken by the international society can resolve this long-standing conflict."
SOT, Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, Bahraini Foreign Minister (Arabic): "About the Syrian matter, we welcome the key role of Russia in the Syrian settlement process, to bring back the stability and security to Syria, and to decrease the threat of terrorism, bringing back the normal life to the Syrian citizens, and bringing back Syrian refugees who had to migrate inside or outside of their country. The Russian role is really important in the region to avoid the existence of any nonconstructive regional role which affect the sovereignty of friendly countries."
SOT, Sergei Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister (Russian): “The most important thing is for our Kurdish companions to be consistent in their actions. They supported the memorandum of Russian-Turkish agreement, they also stated that they are going to cooperate, but then when our US partners once again changed their attitude, and I am not even going to talk about the details here on what they are doing there - first they beat ISIS, then they said that they are going to protect Kurds, after that they stopped protectionof Kurds and left, after that they remembered about oil, so they came back again. Watching this zigzaging of US politics, someone of the YPG leaders decided to bet that the American will always support them.”
M/S Lavrov and Al Khalifa leaving
SCRIPT
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticised the United States’ decision to shift its position on Israeli settlements in the West Bank, speaking at a joint press conference with his Bahraini counterpart Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa in Moscow on Wednesday.
Lavrov said Moscow was “very worried” about the development, adding that the US declaration was against “all decisions of the international community.”
The Russian diplomat went on saying that only “direct negotiations” between Israel and Palestine are acceptable.
Bahrain’s Al Khalifa on his turn praised Russia’s role in the Syrian settlement and in the Middle East, saying that Moscow’s presence "is really important in the region to avoid the existence of any nonconstructive regional role."
On Monday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that US President Donald Trump's administration no longer recognises Israeli settlements as "inconsistent with international law."