Russian, Syrian foreign ministers to discuss Syrian talks resumption

MOSCOW, November 26. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will meet with his Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem on Wednesday to discuss resumption of the political dialogue on conflict settlement in Syria and cooperation in fight against terrorism and extremism in the Middle East. The ministers will discuss the situation in Syria which remains very tense with the growing terrorist threat from extremist groups, first of all the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra. Against the background of U.S attempts to monopolize the right to determine goals and methods of counterterrorist operations, Lavrov and Muallem will discuss the contribution of Russia and Syria in the fight against terrorism in accordance with United Nations Resolutions 2170 and 2178, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. The ministers will pay special attention to resumption of the political dialogue between the Syrian government and the opposition. “We intend to reiterate the readiness to provide “the Moscow ground” for talks between representatives of the Syrian government and the wide range of public and political forces of the Syrian society,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Lavrov and Muallem will also discuss Russian-Syrian relations and Russian humanitarian aid for Syrian people. In recent weeks, Moscow’s initiatives to resume the Syrian dialogue, in fact broken after the government-opposition meeting in Geneva in February 2014, are of great interest in the world, particularly in Arab countries. According to the U.N. information, talks are underway to organize a Syrian government-opposition meeting in Moscow, but the talks are in the preliminary phase. Under discussion is the November 7 meeting of one of Syrian opposition leaders, the ex-leader of the National Coalition of Opposition and Revolutionary Forces, Muaz al-Khatib, with Sergei Lavrov. Russian presidential envoy for the Middle East and Africa and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said the talks were constructive. The idea to hold a meeting of Syrian opposition representatives in Moscow was also discussed by Bogdanov and one of Syrian opposition leaders Qadri Jamil. Cooperation in fight against terrorism remains an important issue in relations between Moscow and Damascus. Terrorism poses a serious threat not only for Syria, but also other Middle East countries. Russia has repeatedly condemned air strikes carried out by the United States-led international coalition against Islamic State positions in Syria without approval from the Syrian government and the United Nations Security Council. “When a coalition is formed against the Islamic State, I have asked /U.S. State Secretary John/ Kerry why they did not apply to the U.N. Security Council in this connection,” Lavrov said. Kerry answered that if to go to the Security Council, a status of Assad’s regime must be fixed somehow. The Russian minister said bombardments by the coalition were not only aimed against the Islamic State, but rather were preparation to change the regime in Syria under cover of the antiterrorist operation. The work to destroy Syrian chemical weapons is in the concluding phase. Russia played an important role at all the stages. However, work to eliminate some chemical producing facilities has yet to be completed. Russia does not think the situation with remaining unsettled issues should be dramatized. The work must continue professionally and calmly to achieve the goals. Russia is ready for such work and will continue as before to constructively contribute to it, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said. Read more