Meeting on Syria in Munich will focus on ceasefire and providing humanitarian access - Russian Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW, February 10. /TASS/. Russia will point to unacceptability of setting preconditions by opposition at the session of International Syria Support Group in Munich on February 11, Russian Foreign Ministry’s official spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday. The participants in the upcoming meeting "will discuss collective efforts on resolving problems that forced UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura to postpone" talks between representatives of Damascus and opposition until February 25, Zakharova said. "At the meeting, the Russian delegation intends to adhere to a principled line of unacceptability of setting preconditions by opposition’s Syria Supreme Commission for Negotiations in order to establish inter-Syrian dialogue in Geneva. In fact, this was envisaged by UN Security Council Resolution 2254," the diplomat stressed. "Another important task that participants in the meeting face is to resolve the problem of participation of Kurdish representatives in Geneva negotiations," Zakharova noted. "We are convinced that Kurdish Democratic Union Party that controls more than 15 percent of Syrian territory and effectively fights against ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant - former name of Islamic State terrorist organization) cannot be left outside of Geneva process. It is even more unacceptable to deprive it of the right to participate in deciding the future of their country," the spokesperson noted. Zakharova said that International Syria Support Group in Munich "will particularly focus on issues of ceasefire in Syria and providing humanitarian access to blocked and hardly accessible towns and settlements." "The main task of the upcoming session is to make this powerful and balanced international format effectively facilitate the confident start and sustainable promotion of inclusive negotiations process as a path with no alternatives toward political settlement of Syrian crisis in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 2254," she noted. On 18 December 2015 the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2254 in support of the Vienna agreements on the peaceful settlement of the conflict in Syria envisages participation of the Syrian opposition and representatives of government in the talks. The final goals of negotiations are defined as establishing the transitional government, adopting a constitution and holding election in the next 18 months. The document does not mention Syrian President Bashar Assad whose future remains the main stumbling block. The resolution states that the Syrian people should decide the future of the country. Read more