Chizhov: Russia’s Priorities in Syria are Eliminating ISIL, Attaining Political Solution

NEW YORK, (ST)-Russia’s priorities in Syria are represented in eliminating the terrorist organization calling itself the “Islamic State of Iraq and Levant” (ISIL) and pressing ahead with efforts aiming to attain political solution in the country, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the EU Ambassador Vladimir Chizhov has underscored.

 In an Interview with CNN published today, Chizhov said “the results of the Russian sorties against terrorists in Syria and the military operations of the Syrian Army on ground have been effective in destroying the command and control centers as well as the weapons and ammunitions stores which belong to ISIL, al-Nousra Front and other terrorist groups.”

In response to critical remarks against Russia accusing the Russian air force of not only targeting ISIL terrorist organization but also the positions of the so-called “moderate Syrian opposition”, Chizhov said “these critical remarks were not new and they started only a few days after the Russian military operations began.” “Moscow has asked for information about the positions of the non-ISIL groups, but the request has been rejected and ignored under the pretext of secrecy. This behavior proves that these groups don’t originally exist,” he added.

“In a later stage, we asked for information about the positions of ISIL and its affiliated groups so as we can concentrate on them, but the answer was that the requested information were secret,” Chizhov pointed out.

The Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov yesterday affirmed his country’s readiness to cooperate with the United States in combating terrorism in Syria.

Hamda Mustafa