Russian deputy minister meets with leader of Syrian national coalition in Ankara

MOSCOW, June 24. /TASS/. Russia speaks in favor of a consolidation of approaches that the Syrian government in Damascus and the country’s constructive opposition take on fighting with international terrorists, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, who is President Putin’s special representative to the Middle East, said on Wednesday. He said it in Ankara at a meeting with leaders of the Syrian National Coalition of Revolutionary and Opposition Forces. The group of top Syrian oppositionists he had a conference with included Hadi al-Bahra, Badr Jamous, Ahmad Ramadan, Hassan Hashemi, and Saleh Dervish. "In the course of the conversation, the sides exchanged opinions on the results of the inter-Syrian consultations held in Moscow as part of preparations for the Geneva-3 conference," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a comment. "The Russian side stressed the importance of intensified efforts in the interests of a speedy political settlement of the Syrian crisis through a process of negotiations that is to be established between the Syrian government and a broad spectrum of internal and external opposition forces on the basis of the communique signed in Geneva on June 30, 2012," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a comment. Moscow made emphasis on the task of coordinating actions between Damascus and the constructive Syrian opposition in struggle with the terrorists who put Syria’s very existence as a united sovereign state into jeopardy, he said. Read more