Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov renewed his country’s call for halting violence in Syria according to the Geneva statement, adding that all Russia's efforts are directed towards implementing the terms of this statement.
Speaking at a press conference with his Belgian counterpart Didier Reynders in Moscow on Monday, Lavrov said that all foreign players should realize the current woeful situation in Syria and work on implementing the Geneva statement.
Lavrov said "I wish that the US would realize the need for doing everything to get the Geneva statement applied," adding that his country will exert efforts to restore security and stability to Syria.
He recalled Russia's efforts to hold the Geneva meeting on June 30th last year with the UN former envoy to Syria Kofi Annan, adding "We were talking about 8 hours of deliberations after which we agreed on the statement, the most important of its terms is obliging all participants to call all Syrian sides to halt violence and appoint negotiators to reach an agreement on the structure and the powers granted to the transitional government.
The Russian Foreign Minister added that the failure to implement the conditions is still a mystery to him till the moment, noting that his country supports the implementation of such agreements and works with the government and the opposition groups while the majority of other participants in Geneva meeting are unilateral and work with the opposition only.
Lavrov stressed that Russia's mission included convincing all those who met in Geneva to realize the current tragic situation in Syria and halt violence in the country.
He called on foreign officials to show more awareness in their comments regarding Russia’s stance on Syria.
He said the recent evacuation of Russian citizens, mostly women and children, from Syria made Victoria Nuland, the US State Department spokeswoman, believe it was a signal that Moscow was ready to give up on the Assad regime over “continued deterioration of the security situation, and the violence that Assad is leading against his own people.”
————————-
Comment:
The Syrian media has ignored a statement made Monday by t Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev, in which he said, “We don’t support [Syrian President] Assad, neither do we support the opposition. We keep in touch with both the opposition and Assad. We have inter-government agreements, economic ties and even military relations with the regime, though we have never said who should rule the country. It’s up to the Syrian people,” he said.
......
