STA, 28 May 2019 - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will arrive in Slovenia on Tuesday evening, starting a two-day visit by meeting his counterpart Miro Cerar at Strmol Castle near Cerklje na Gorenjskem. On Wednesday, he is scheduled to meet President Borut Pahor and Prime Minister Marjan Šarec.
Today's meeting will take place behind closed doors and the pair will hold another one tomorrow morning at the Foreign Ministry in Ljubljana. The latter is to be followed by a press conference.
The Slovenian Foreign Ministry has said beforehand that the visit represents the continuation of bilateral dialogue between the two countries. Lavrov's last trip to Slovenia was in February 2018.
After meeting Pahor and Šarec on Wednesday, Lavrov will attend a ceremony in Šmartno pri Litiji to unveil a statue honouring Davorin Hostnik (1853-1929), the author of the first Russian-Slovenian dictionary.
Russia is a key trade partner for Slovenia, with trade amounting to EUR 1.16 billion last year. The figure was highest in 2014, when it reached nearly EUR 1.5 billion.
Trade has decreased in recent years due to a poorer macroeconomic situation on the Russian market and sanctions the EU imposed on Russia after the latter annexed Crimea. Both Slovenia and Russia hold the view that the 2015 Minsk Agreement is key in ending the tensions in Ukraine.
Tensions between western countries and Russia ran high again in March 2018 following the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergey Skripal. While the UK blamed Russia for his death, Moscow denied the allegations.
Following the Skripal attack, Slovenia was one of the few EU member states which did not expel Russian diplomats.
The countries also have close cultural ties. Only last week, a collection of more than 80 icons from leading Russian museums went on display at the Ljubljana City Museum.
But the key event each year is the commemoration of more than 100 Russian POWs who died in an avalanche building the Vršič mountain pass during World War I.
