Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
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Moscow, SANA – Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed the need to launch a political process in Syria as soon as possible, stating that Moscow will conduct more communications soon with regional and international sides regarding the crisis in Syria.
In a joint press conference with Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Secretary General Lamberto Zannier held in Moscow on Monday, Lavrov said that meetings with representatives of Middle Eastern states are expected to be held soon, and that the degree of cooperation with said states is related to how committed they are to combating terrorism.
He revealed that Moscow held a series of communications recently with various regional sides that have influence over the crisis in Syria, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iran, and Turkey, and that communication with Washington in this regard is ongoing.
The Minister noted that Russia can sense during its communication with Washington and Arab Gulf states that they are becoming more aware of the threat of terrorism, but viewpoints regarding the situation in Syria aren’t identical, adding that there’s some forward momentum in this regard.
He stressed that some sides’ attempts to achieve geopolitical goals such as changing governments they don’t like by employing terrorists has led to the spread of chaos and the rise of terrorist organizations like Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS.
Lavrov also asserted that Russia is interested in coordinating with the U.S.-led alliance in more than just avoiding any accidents in Syrian airspace, adding that Russia asked those who claim to know the situation on the ground better to divulge the locations of terrorists, but until now the Western alliance isn’t prepared to do so, and alliance also refused to say where “moderate non-terrorist opposition” is operating in Syria, asserting that Russia is prepared to cooperate with such opposition to combat terrorism if it rejects terrorist tactics and ideologies and becomes embroiled in efforts to set up a comprehensive political process that leads to accord among Syrian.
The Minister also noted that the Western alliance is operating in Iraq upon the request of the Iraqi government, while it received no such request from Syria, while Russia on the other hand did receive an invitation from the Syrian government, giving it legitimacy and compliance with international law, therefore coordination between the two alliances can legitimize the Western alliance’s operations in Syria.
Hazem Sabbagh
