Lavrov: “Daesh”, “al-Nusra Front”, Those Merged with Them Will Never Be Part of Cessation of Hostilities Agreement

The cessation of hostilities agreement in Syria has never included and will never include “Daesh” and “al-Nusra Front” and those who merged with these terrorist organizations,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a joint press conference with his French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault on Thursday.

 According to Sputnik, Lavrov added that Moscow is ready to work on Paris’ draft resolution on Syria and that the Russian side expected its amendments to be taken into account in the French UNSC resolution.

“We expect that our ideas, our amendments which we shall pass on after today’s meeting to our French colleagues, will be diligently studied and taken into account,” Lavrov said.

“We have seen the plan, the document, we consider that it deserves to be discussed and supported. We note that in response to the request of the European Union, Syrian authorities have given their approval to open a humanitarian office of the European Union in Damascus,” he added.

 Lavrov stressed that Moscow was unlikely to soften its stance on separation of terrorists from “moderate opposition” in Syria.

“I don’t think Russia would be able to soften any wording.”

He underscored that Moscow and Damascus were ready to implement their obligations under the Russia-US deal on Syria.

“Russia and the Syrian authorities are ready to implement their part of the agreements that includes ensuring the ceasefire that was declared and [then] violated by illegal armed groups. That also concerns ensuring humanitarian access, primarily through the Castello Road in full accordance with the US-Russian documents.”

He noted that Russia did everything it could but the US-collation failed to separate “moderate opposition” from al-Nusra Front terrorists.

Lavrov also expressed regret that the United States suspended cooperation with Russia on Syria.

The Russian top diplomat said Russia considered the EU humanitarian plan on Syria as deserving discussion.

Commenting on the deployment of the S-300 and S-400 air defense systems in Syria, Lavrov said that Moscow had to ensure the security of its troops there. He said the systems did not pose any threat to anyone.

“We simply need to ensure the safety and security of our military personnel…our naval maintenance facility in the port of Tartus at this point while the situation is still extremely volatile,” he said.

Russia hopes that the US desire to resolve the Syrian crisis by resorting to force will not win, Sergei Lavrov said.

 “We are witnessing now that there are people in Washington willing to resort to force [against Syrian army]. That is not a secret and I hope that they will not win, we heard a rather weighted comment … made by a White House’s spokesperson and hope that it reflects the main line [of the policy] conducted by the [US President] Barack Obama’s administration,” he said.

H.M