Lavrov Expected in Slovenia to Discuss South Stream, Ukraine
Lavrov and Erjavec will be keynote speakers at a memorial ceremony for the Stalag XVIII D prisoner camp, which was set up by German occupying forces on the premises of a warehouse.
Russian Minister of Communications and Mass Media Nikolai Nikirofov is also expected to attend the event, in what will be the first of two visits planned to Slovenia this month.
Erjavec expects to be briefed on Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent visit to Austria as well as Russia's standpoints on the South Stream pipeline, which is planned to run through Slovenia.
"I have been reassured that Russia is interested in carrying out the South Stream project. They also made it very clear to me that their agreement with Austria would not affect the route through Slovenia," Erjavec told the press last week after visiting Moscow.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also confirmed that the agenda included the pipeline. "The South Stream project in Slovenia will contribute to the increasing number of mutual investments," the ministry said, according to Russian press agency Itar-Tass.
Russia and Slovenia have a common goal to abide by the signed agreement without breaking EU laws, the Russian ministry also said.
Both ministries confirmed that Erjavec and Lavrov would discuss the Ukraine crisis.
"We know very well that no economic sanctions will solve any crisis," Erjavec has said, expressing Slovenia's reservation about new measures against Russia after denying allegations that negative reactions about the visit have come from abroad.
"I would like to say very clearly for the Slovenian public that US Secretary of State John Kerry supports dialogue and also the visit of Sergey Lavrov to Slovenia and expects that I will represent the positions of NATO and the EU in the talks," Erjavec said after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels in late June.
Meanwhile, former Slovenian ambassador to Russia and the president of the Slovenia-Russia Association Saša Geržina said in an interview for daily Večer that he found the polemics around all these visits were becoming disturbing.
"We need to keep diplomatic and communication channels open," Geržina commented and added that Europe and Russia should cooperate on the topic of Ukraine.