LAS summit decisions on Syria mean refusal from peaceful settlement there – Lavrov

The decision of the League of Arab States (LAS) to recognize the Syrian opposition as a legitimate representative of Syria means that the LAS has given up the course to a peaceful resolution of the crisis in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

“To tell the truth, we perceived the results of the LAS summit in Doha with regret. We view the essence of the decision made there in the fact that the League of Arab States refused a peaceful resolution,” Lavrov told a news conferenceوaccording to the Voice of Russia.

Judging by  the decision  made  in Doha,  one  tries to  decide  on Syria’s future outside of the country,  he said. “The decision that  the National  Coalition  of  Syrian   Opposition  is  the  only   legitimate representative of the Syrian people, of course, crosses out the  efforts that have been made so far,  including the agreements reached in  Geneva on June 30 last  year,” Lavrov said,  noting that the  LAS took part  in that meeting.

 The Geneva agreements provide  for negotiations between the  Syrian government and opposition, he said.  “The recognition of one  opposition structure as  a  sole legitimate  representative  of the  Syrian  people crosses this all out. It turns out that in the eyes of the LAS not  only the Syrian government  but also other  opposition structures,  including the ones that act inside Syria, are illegitimate representatives of  the Syrian people,” Lavrov said.

“It turns out that  one tries to decide  on Syria’s future  outside Syria, at meetings  between foreign  countries and  the external  Syrian opposition, while the opinion of those who think that the government and internal opposition represent  somebody too is  totally ignored. We  are alarmed by this,” Lavrov said.

Moscow also paid attention to  the breach of procedures for  making decisions in the LAS,  he said. “We also  noted that not everything  was smooth from the procedural  point of view, because  not all LAS  members supported the decision. And one needs  a consensus, if my memory  serves me right, in  order to expel  a government  from the league  and give  a place that belongs to Syria to an opposition structure,” Lavrov said.

M.D