Russian foreign minister sets off on European tour

MOSCOW, June 22 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's foreign minister departs on Monday for a weeklong European tour taking in four countries and informal ministerial meetings of the OSCE and NATO-Russia Council.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said Sergei Lavrov will begin his tour with a visit to Vienna where he will address an annual OSCE conference on security and meet with his Austrian counterpart, Michael Spindelegger.

The Russian foreign minister will also hold talks with President Heinz Fischer and Chancellor Werner Faymann before leaving for Switzerland on Wednesday.

In Bern, Lavrov will meet with Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey to discuss preparations for the Russian president's first visit to Switzerland, due in the fall.

The talks will also focus on the European security agreement, which President Dmitry Medvedev proposed in Berlin in June last year, and the representation by Switzerland of Russia's interests in Georgia.

Lavrov will later leave Switzerland for Italy's Trieste, where he will attend a G8 ministerial meeting and the Middle East quartet session on June 25-27, the spokesman said.

The minister will complete his tour on June 27 by attending an informal meeting of OSCE foreign ministers and an informal ministerial session of the NATO-Russia Council on the Greek island of Corfu, Nesterenko said.

The agenda for the talks could focus on Russia-NATO relations, which were temporarily severed after last August's Georgia-Russia war.

NATO resumed formal contacts with Russia on April 29. However, relations took a setback last month with the expulsion of two Russian NATO diplomats from Brussels. Russia responded by expelling two NATO officials from Moscow and boycotting a NATO-Russia Council session.