Senior Lawmaker: Munich Conference Proves West Seeking Dialogue With Russia

The Munich Security Conference proved that the West was seeking dialogue with Russia.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Both the European Union and the United States want to foster a political dialogue with Russia, which was confirmed at the Munich Security Conference (MSC), a senior Russian lawmaker said Monday.

"Yes, at the moment our conversation with the West in the MSC format still remains difficult. But Russia is definitely being heard and they want to hear us, we sound convincing, we have something to say to this audience, and so I am sure Russia's participation in this initially exclusively Western forum is not just useful, but also is especially important in the crisis situation," Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the upper house of the Russian parliament, wrote on his blog.

Kosachev, who was part of the Russian delegation to the MSC, added that he personally witnessed the demand to hear Russian opinions during meetings with fellow parliamentarians, including members of the US Senate, the German Bundestag, the French National Assembly and the European Parliament.

The Munich Security Conference is an international, nongovernmental, independent forum for discussing major security issues. Founded in 1962 to facilitate consultations between NATO member countries, it now involves representatives from Central and Eastern Europe, South Asia, and the Middle East, as well as former Soviet states.

This year the conference was held on February 12-14. Russia was represented by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.