Astana meeting takes Syria talks to new level - Lavrov

MOSCOW, January 25. /TASS/. The meeting held in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana, is taking all efforts on the Syrian conflict resolution to a new level, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday. "The meeting between the Syrian government and armed opposition forces ended yesterday in Astana, with Russia, Turkey and Iran as guarantors and the UN secretary general’s special envoy on Syria and US ambassador as observers. The meeting ended with the adoption of a document. I think that its results are very important and take all efforts to a new level," Lavrov said, addressing the State Duma. The Astana talks will facilitate the intra-Syrian negotiation process with the goal of political settlement of the crisis in line with the UN Security Council’s resolutions, he said. Russia’s top diplomat noted that Moscow is "stepping up cooperation with Turkey, Iran and other countries of the region to solve the pressing issues of the Syrian crisis." "Thanks to coordinated efforts, first of all through military agencies, Aleppo was liberated from extremists and then a ceasefire regime was established based on the December 29 agreement," he added. "Efficient fight against terrorism is impossible without stabilization in the Middle East, without an efficient peaceful settlement of many conflicts there, namely in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen," Lavrov stressed. Armed opposition's participation Lavrov noted that there was a direct contact between the Syrian government and armed opposition groups in Astana. "So, the representatives of the sides, who stand against each other "on the ground" with arms in their hands, were at one table, although not during the whole day." "This has not been so before, until now only the political opposition, mostly consisting of emigrants, participated in different events aimed at organizing intra-Syrian dialogue," he said. "In Astana, we agreed that the armed opposition will participate in the talks on Syrian settlement along with the political opposition in line with the UN Security Council resolution," Lavrov said. He said it is of principle importance that the representatives of the armed opposition signed a document confirming that there is no military solution to the Syrian crisis. Joint fight against Islamic State Russia’s Aerospace Forces, the Syrian government and the armed opposition are prepared to carry out strikes against the positions of the Islamic State terrorist group (outlawed in Russia), Lavrov said, addressing the State Duma. "In addition to direct contacts between the Syrian government and representatives of the armed opposition, our delegation, which included representatives of the Foreign Ministry and the Defense Ministry, also held several direct meetings with representatives of the armed opposition, discussing with them the prospects of joint fight against terrorism in Syria, above all, the IS," he said. "That is, the Syrian government, the Russian Aerospace Forces and armed opposition groups are essentially ready to pool efforts and carry out strikes against IS positions in Syria’s regions that are still under their control." Control over ceasefire implementation The Astana talks also confirmed the ceasefire regime agreed at the talks mediated by Russia and Turkey between the government and the Syrian armed opposition. "At the Astana meeting one more step was made in this direction," Lavrov added. "Russia, Iran and Turkey set up a trilateral committee" during which the reports on ceasefire violations will be checked, he said. Draft constitution Lavrov said the meeting in Astana gave an impetus to the United Nations that had failed to convene the intra-Syrian talks for almost a year. "Moreover, to encourage this process more particularly we spread a draft constitution in Astana," he said, adding that the document takes into account the stance of the government and the opposition and the countries of the region. Invitation to Moscow All representatives of Syria’s political opposition have been invited to Moscow on January 27, Lavrov said. "To make sure that no one suspects Russia, Turkey and Iran of trying to replace everything that has been done hitherto by the Astana process, we have invited all opposition members from among the political opposition (to Moscow) on Friday, those willing to come, and we will brief them on what happened in Astana and the way we see the positive development of the Astana process in the future," he said. Read more