Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov issued calls on Wednesday to end the freezing of Syria’s membership in the Arab League.
In a press conference held at the conclusion of the fourth session of the Russian-Arab Cooperation Forum in Abu Dhabi, Lavrov said Syria’s return to the League would have helped joint efforts on the political settlement in the country.
“The fact that the Syrian government, a legitimate UN member, cannot take part in the Arab League discussions does not help our joint efforts. I think the Arab League could have played a more important role if the Syrian government was part of this organization,” he said.
On the other hand, Lavrov said that Moscow hopes new opposition groups will observe the ceasefire in Syria as the agreement is open to all those who may wish to join it, in exception for the Islamic State and Nusra Front terrorist groups.
“As we have said, the declaration of the plans for a meeting in Astana served as a reminder to our friends at the United Nations to recall that their business is negotiations. So they set a date,” Lavrov said, adding that “for some reason they have already moved it from February 8 to the end of the month.”
“We do hope that such postponements will be few,” he said.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
