Michael de Laine

By Michael de Laine, The Copenhagen Voice, 4 June 2009

Russian President Medvedev is coming to Denmark next spring - possibly 1 May - on an official visit to Queen Margrethe.

Russia’s President, Dmitri Medvedev, is coming to Denmark next spring - possibly 1 May - on an official visit to Queen Margrethe.

According to the Ritzau newswire, that was one result of talks yesterday between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Per Stig Møller, the Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs. Lavrov also met Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen before departing for a meeting of the Baltic Sea Council in Helsingør.

“In concrete terms, my meeting with Foreign Minister Lavrov strengthened the collaboration with Russia and through a joint committee we are working towards developing the economic relations,” Per Stig Møller told the newswire.

Lavrov and Rasmussen discussed Danish-Russian relations and the UN climate summit, COP15, in Copenhagen in December.

“The strong dialogue between our two countries confirms we have good bilateral collaboration,” Lars Løkke Rasmussen said at a news conference. “This year is of great importance because of the climate summit and it is also important that we in this respect develop strong cooperation between Denmark and Russia, because Russia is such an important global player.”

Russia must be included in the climate agenda to ensure a successful summit, he added.

“I think we need strong cooperation between Nato and Russia,” the Danish Prime Minister said. “We have discussed several issues - terrorism, Afghanistan, drug trafficking - that really call for close collaboration between Nato and Russia. I am very pleased that the next meeting of the Nato-Russia Council has just been announced for later in June

Asked about Ukraine’s relations with the EU and with Russian, Lavrov said that his country does not decide over Ukraine’s relations with the EU, Nato or other countries. He would like to see a resolution of the energy supply situation to Ukraine, including Ukraine’s ability to pay for the energy that Russia supplies.

Click here and here to see a video report from the news conference.