Russia, U.S. agree on objectives of settlement in Syria - Lavrov

UNITED NATIONS, October 1. /TASS/. Russia and the United States agree on the objectives of the settlement in Syria, there are disagreements on the ways of achieving them, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday following meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. "Our president said while addressing the UN General Assembly that we will actively contribute to launching the political process on the Syrian settlement to create the conditions for the Syrians to agree on how they should live in their country, on the way they want to see their country, to agree that the rights of all ethnic groups and religious denominations are guaranteed, to make them feel involved, to be represented in the government bodies at the central and local levels and thus to put an end to the fratricidal conflict," the minister said. "We agree that it’s necessary to achieve these objectives. I am sure that the majority of the Syrians see the future of their country in a similar way, the same vision is enshrined in the Geneva Communique," he said. "However, we have certain disagreements regarding the ways of moving to that goal," Lavrov noted. "There is a common understanding of the importance of the efforts made by special envoy of the UN Secretary-General Staffan de Mistura," he said. "This process is painstaking, it must be carefully prepared. But the most important thing is to ensure that all Syrian parties, without exception, give consent to take part in this process. So far some of them, including not without the outside influence, put forward additional conditions for such a dialogue related primarily to the fate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad." Read more