Russia makes no equality between Syrian opposition and terrorists - Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW, February 4. /TASS/. Russia has never placed an equality mark between the Syrian opposition and terrorists and believes that the Syrian political settlement can’t be achieved by military methods, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Thursday. The spokesperson commented on a statement by US Secretary of State John Kerry that Moscow and Damascus were allegedly seeking military rather than political settlement of the Syrian conflict. "The political settlement in Syria is our final and most important goal," Zakharova said. "Political settlement can’t be achieved by a military method. These things contradict each other," she added. As for the struggle against terrorism, Russia has always distinguished the Syrian armed opposition from terrorists, the spokesperson said. "We have never confused one thing with the other," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said. ‘We have always said that even the opposition, which took up the arms in Syria after concluding that the political methods were no longer effective, although this surely causes regret but we do not consider this opposition as terrorists, was able to come to agreement and it was necessary to maintain political dialog with it," Zakharova said. "Our goals in Syria are clear-cut assignments and have never been changed," Zakharova said. "The struggle against terrorism is a common threat. This is not the issue of only Syria but this is also the issue of our security, regional and international," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said. Russia has firmly stood for the political settlement of the Syrian conflict by peaceful means, she added. "I want to remind US colleagues that exactly the United States was on the threshold of the commencement of bombings in Syria," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson noted. "The Russian initiative on chemical demilitarization became the sole possibility to push aside a new disaster similar to the Libyan or Iraqi scenario," Zakharova said. Read more