On Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed the need for the UN Secretariat to remain non-aligned in any crisis –including matters relating to Syria– and to hold it responsible for yielding to Western pressure regarding developments in Ukraine. Meanwhile, UN Special Envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen expressed the hope that recent international events would not affect matters relating to Syria.
During talks with Pedersen in the Russian capital, Moscow, Lavrov spoke about the crisis in Syria. He said, according to the SANA news agency (state-run, editor’s note): “We are constantly communicating with all interested parties in Syria and seeking to move forward and achieve progress. Although, some countries are trying to create obstacles on all issues, especially against Russia.”
Lavrov was quoted by the Russia Today website as stressing the importance of Pedersen’s continued contacts with all parties to the conflict, describing these contacts as “It’s useful and crucial”
“I stress the importance of our cooperation and that we are meeting today and will work to make real progress in the Syrian settlement. We will not lose sight of this issue, although there are attempts in the world, as is known, to fuel confrontation on almost any issue concerning Russia’s activities,” Lavrov said.
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Lavrov criticized UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, blaming him for “bowing to Western pressure” in his remarks about the latest developments in Ukraine, SANA reported.
In parallel, the Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta quoted Russian International Affairs Council expert Kirill Semyonov as saying that “the crisis in relations between Russia and the West, on the contrary, has calmed down, to some extent the situation in Syria. We do not notice any preparations or attempts to escalate the situation from any party, the situation there is calm because all attention is now focused on Europe.”
Semyonov said it makes no sense to escalate the situation in Syria because the field of military operations there is separate from the main area where the confrontation is taking place, i.e. from the European region.
But according to military expert Yuri Lyamin, who said: If tensions continue to escalate, then in the end they will inevitably be reflected everywhere. Therefore the prospects for resolving differences between Russian and U.S. forces in Syria will be reduced as well, indicating that the possibility of using the Syrian trend at some point by one party to exert pressure or distract the other side cannot be ruled out.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
