Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation since 2004, has been participating in the Rome MED Dialogues since their first edition in 2015, signaling Russia’s increasingly relevant role in the Mena region. 2015 was also the year marking Russia’s military intervention in the Syrian conflict. The conflict is still ongoing, and its humanitarian consequences are made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic, while the constitutional and political processes seem to be stuck. Russia is still one of the main players in Syria and it is a relevant stakeholder in other regional contexts as well, where it cooperates with active regional players, such as Turkey., The Italian government deems dialogue with Russia, in particular in the Mena region, as essential to tackle challenges that need to be solved through a multilateral approach.
Watch the Dialogue with Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Russian Federation, on the MED website.