Damascus studying Russia-proposed draft constitution - Syrian ambassador to Moscow

MOSCOW, January 30. /TASS/ Syria’s government is studying a draft constitution that was proposed by Russia, consultations will be held on that matter, Syrian Ambassador to Russian Riad Haddad said on Monday. "As a government, we have received this draft from our friends and are scrutinizing the ideas it has, and, correspondingly, we will be ready to hold consultations with them," he said. Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a meeting with representatives of the Syrian opposition that the Russia-proposed draft sums up constitutional proposals of both the Syrian government and opposition groups. "The draft constitution attempts to bring together and find shared points in those approaches that were outlined to us both by representatives of the government and representatives of the opposition, including all those present here, over the past several years," he noted. Russia is imposing its draft on no one and the talk is about the proposals called upon to stimulate a discussion on this issue in Geneva, the Russian foreign minister stressed. "We are convinced that it is time to stop arguing round and round the subject and it is necessary to focus on discussing specific issues that were outlined in Resolution 2254, including the work on the constitution," he said. Read more