MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Putin rings Cristina Fernandez to praise her Falklands/Crimea double-standard argument

Putin and Cristina Fernandez during the G20 summit in St Petersburg

Russia’s Vladimir Putin called President Cristina Fernández and praised Argentina’s position against the “double standard” of world powers in the resolution of international conflicts. The Argentine leader appealed to the examples of Crimea and the Falkland Islands' referendum in her statements last week in France.

 “We talked about the Ukraine situation and Argentina's position in the Crimea dispute” twitted Cristina Fernandez following the phone exchange with Putin.

According to an official statement by the Argentine Foreign Ministry, the Russian leader contacted Cristina Fernandez on Tuesday morning, following a previous request for calls by the Russian embassy in Buenos Aires back on Friday.

Both leaders discussed the situation in Ukraine and Putin praised the comments by Cristina Fernández last week during an official visit to Paris.

Holding a press conference along with her French counterpart Francois Hollande, CFK questioned what she called world powers’ “double standard” in the settlement of international disputes.

The Argentine president indeed compared the support of world powers to the referendum held by the Falkland Islanders in 2013 with the 'rejection' of the international community to the vote in Crimea a week ago.

“If the Crimea referendum is non-valid, which took place just a few kilometers away from Russia, much less validity can be attributed to an overseas colony, 13.000 kilometers away”, said the Argentine president in France in reference to the Falklands decision to remain a British Overseas Territory.

“Putin highlighted the significance of Argentina’s position that included in the debate the double standard of many countries regarding the United Nations Charter,” the Foreign ministry document reads and adds that the “Argentine president ratified our country will continue to promote the pacific resolution of conflicts“ and denounce ”the inefficiency of sanctions that hinder constructive dialogue.”

“As I stated in France, you can't be in agreement with the territorial integrity of Crimea and in disagreement with that of the Malvinas Islands” twitted the Argentine president who added “we consider unacceptable the double standard policy undertaken by some western countries and international organizations”.

The statement by the Foreign Ministry finally says leaders Putin and Cristina Fernandez discussed a joint agenda they had addressed at the G20 summit in St. Petersburg last year, involving key issues such as “energy, military, trade, strategic development and joint activities in the Antarctic continent”.