Syrian-Russian views identical on making Geneva 2 a success

Foreign Ministers of Syria and Russia stressed that their countries share identical views on the need to put every effort to make a success of the international conference on Syria, known as Geneva 2, to ensure a political solution to the crisis in Syria and establish for dialogue among the Syrians.

“We exchanged views on Geneva conference and our views were identical on the necessity to exert every effort to make the conference a success,” Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign and Expatriates Minister Walid al-Moallem told a press conference following talks between the two ministers in Moscow on Friday.

Al-Moallem: We want Geneva conference to ensure political solution

“We want this conference to ensure a political solution to the crisis in Syria being the safest route and meet the Syrian people’s aspirations, foremost combating terrorism,” al-Moallem said.

He added that “We believe that this conference should lay the foundation for dialogue among the Syrians without any foreign interference and with respecting Syria’s sovereignty and independence.”

Al-Moallem pointed out that he presented to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov today a plan for security procedures for Aleppo city and asked him to make the necessary contacts to ensure the plan’s implementation and setting the “Zero Hour” to stop military operations.

He added that he informed Lavrov that “we agree in principle to exchange detainees in the Syrian prisons for abductees held by the armed groups provided that we exchange lists to determine a mechanism to put that into effect.”

Al-Moallem went on saying that he also notified Lavrov that a humanitarian aid convey was delivered to al-Ghizlaniyeh village on Thursday and another will be delivered to al-Shibani village in coordination with the UN organizations in response to the Russian side’s request.

“The success of this experiment will lead to getting it repeated in other villages if the gunmen and terrorists continue to commit to not shooting at these convoys,” he noted.

Al-Moallem: Syria will attend Geneva conference despite attempts to derail it

The Foreign Minister reaffirmed that despite the attempts by some countries to derail Geneva conference and the hesitation of the so-called “Coalition” to attend it, Syria will attend the conference and will continue its efforts to make it succeed to secure the Syrian people’s aspirations in implementation of President Bashar al-Assad’s directions.

For his part, Russian Foreign Minister expressed concern that while the Syrian government has long consented to take part in the conference and formed an official delegation, yet “we have not seen similar steps by the Syrian opposition and especially by the Coalition”.

“We also feel worried that our Western colleagues have focused their work on persuading the opposition abroad and the Coalition to participate in the conference while excluding the national opposition operating inside Syria who care to participate,” said Lavrov, citing the National Coordination Body and the Kurds organizations.

He noted that clear signs will be sent to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on this regard and “we know that these signs will be fully considered”.

Lavrov: Geneva conference goal is to end bloodshed

“During our talks today we highlighted our common position that the goal of Geneva 2 conference is to end the bloodshed and prevent Syria turning into a hotbod for international terrorism,” said Lavrov.

He added that Russia sees that the conference should also aim to find common steps to reach peace, security and stability in Syria, preserve the safety of its land and maintain it as a sovereign, independent and secular state with guaranteeing equality of rights among all religious and ethnic sects.

The Russian Foreign Minister also referred to what he described as “immediate” issues, including alleviating the suffering and improving the humanitarian situation in Syrian.

Lavrov said he obtained confirmations from Minister al-Moallem on the Syrian side’s readiness and preparedness to facilitate providing humanitarian assistance to affected people in response to the Russian side’s request.

He noted that these projects aim at delivering aid to some areas inside Syria, adding that in some cases necessary measures have been taken with regard to areas in eastern Ghouta and other areas in Damascus Countryside and Aleppo.

Lavrov stressed that implementing these projects depends on the armed groups of the opposition which he said must commit to ensuring teh safety of the humanitarian aid convoys, noting that during his recent talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Paris, he obtained a vow from the latter that he would talk the Syrian opposition into this.

He expressed hope that the UN, in the framework of trust-building measures, will work on collecting all promised humanitarian batches and inform about the forms of this aid.

As for the process of destroying the Syrian chemical weapons, Lavrov stressed that this process is running successfully in general despite the attempts at hindering it and that Russian-Syrian coordination will continue in this regard.

Commenting on reporters’ questions, al-Moallem slammed accusations that the Syrian government is destroying hospitals, schools and other humanitarian facilities, stressing that the Syrian government is defending its people and their institutions by its constitutional duty, calling the accusers as “either blind or don’t want to see the truth”.

Answering a question on the Palestinian al-Yarmouk camp, al-Moallem referred to the recent visit of Palestinian Labor Minister to Damascus and the contacts he made with the Palestinian factions and gunmen in the camp and the Syrian government, which ended up in agreement to provide access to large aid convoy by the UNRWA.

He however added that the convoy, which was guarded by Syrian army members, came under heavy fire by snipers and gunmen blocking from entering the camp and the details of this incident were laid bare by the Palestinian Minister in a press conference he held for this purpose.

Al-Moallem sounded a confident note that the Syrian side is ready to let aid convoys inside the camp at any time if terrorists commit not to open fire on the convoys.

Lavrov: It’s unacceptable to exploit humanitarian situation to foil Geneva conference

Lavrov, for his part, said it is irresponsible to make such accusations without clear evidence, which were issued during the donors’ conference in Kuwait, referring on the other hand to a statement by the UN Human Rights Commissioner highlighting the crimes of murders and executions committed by the gunmen in northern Syria.

The Russian Minister pointed out in this context that there are attempts in the UN framework to manipulate use the humanitarian situation in Syria as a pretext to push toward building humanitarian corridors and no-fly zones to encourage foreign intervention in the country.

“It is unacceptable to use the humanitarian conflict to derail and foil Geneva 2 conference,” Lavrov stressed.

Al-Moallem wondered at how the US condemns terrorism in Iraq and voices support to the Iraqi government in fighting the “Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham”, while at the same time it backs the same terrorists who are fighting gin Syria.

Asked on the Syrian government’s next steps to end the war, al-Moallem reiterated that the first and foremost concern of the government is to fight terrorism and referred to the security plan he presented to Lavrov for Aleppo, voicing hope that it could succeed as a model for other cities.

Commenting on the situation of the Syrian opposition with relation to its hesitation to attend Geneva 2 conference, Lavrov called upon all the parties concerned “and above all the Coalition to put Syria’s interests above their own personal ones”.

Syrian Arab News Agency “SANA”