Declarations of possible use of force to resolve conflict are attempts to disrupt Syrian peace process – Lavrov

Declarations of a possible use of force to resolve the crisis in Syria are an attempt to force the Syrian government to “slam the door in face” of the peace negotiations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. “Steps are being taken, some of them publicly, such as declarations that the use of force remains a possible option, steps are being taken to politicize all humanitarian issues at the UN Security Council; probably, they wish to force the government to slam the door shut [on negotiations]. These attempts are bad. One has to honor agreements. We have done our job honestly. And we expect our partners to do the same,” Lavrov told a press conference after negotiations with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

“We have been witnessing systemic attempts to find any pretext for thwarting a political settlement. Certainly, we grow alarmed whenever the presidents of the United States and France once again say at a joint press conferences that the affair may go beyond negotiations,” Lavrov said.

Geneva-2 peace talks on Syria should not have any ‘artificial deadlines’ – Russian FM

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has dismissed attempts to set some deadlines for the Geneva II international conference on Syria as unconstructive. “When the Russian-American initiative was announced, it was said clearly that these negotiations should not have any artificially set time parameters, or any artificial deadlines,” Lavrov said at a press conference after talks with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Moscow on Friday.

M.D