Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
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Moscow, SANA – Russian air force operation against the terrorist organizations in Syria has “drastically altered the situation on the ground,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in his annual news conference in Moscow on Tuesday.
“The operation of Russia’s air group in response to a request from the Syrian government really made it possible to turn the tide of events in the country and to cause the terrorists-controlled area to shrink,” Lavrov said.
“Also, it became clear who fights the terrorists in earnest and who is their accomplice and tries to use them for their selfish aims,” he added.
Lavrov went on saying that Russia’s “active participation in the anti-terror struggle has contributed to the passing of a number of important resolutions of the UN Security Council aimed at curbing terrorist financing and the phenomenon of foreign terrorist gunmen. These are resolutions 2199 and 2253.”
He called for “honest and detailed reports” of the UN Secretariat on who meets one’s commitments on these important documents and how.
He reminded that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s initiative for forming a wide anti-terror coalition under the aegis of the United Nations was one of the key measures of the Russian foreign policy.
In his response to SANA reporter’s question about Turkey’s violations of counterterrorism resolutions, Lavrov said “Concerning the anti-terror resolutions on Syria, we are determined not to allow any juggling (with UN resolutions).”
“We are closely following the activities of the UN Secretariat, which is supposed to prepare information and subsequently reports on how the parties comply with these resolutions,” he added.
Lavrov pointed out that the first report on compliance with the UN Security Council’s resolution on curbing financing of terrorist groups has not mentioned the oil smuggling from Syria to Turkey.
“This is outrageous,” he stressed.
Lavrov pointed out that the regional and international parties have finally realized the necessity of abandoning the preconditions for starting the inter-Syrian dialogue.
He also rejected any attempt to marginalize some parties of the Syrian opposition in the upcoming Geneva talks, dismissing such attempts as a flagrant violation of the UN Security council’s resolution No. 2254.
It is up to the UN Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura, said Lavrov, to send invitations to the opposition delegation based on Moscow, Cairo and Riyadh meetings.
H. Zain/ H. Said
