Damascus Is to Decide which Countries Will Send Observers to Syria: Lavrov

MOSCOW-Groups of observers in Syria’s de-escalation zones will include military and police from different countries, and the decision on which countries will be invited must be taken in consultations with Damascus, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in a press conference with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Moscow on Friday, Itar Tass reported.

“These consultations, as to which precisely countries will be invited to send their military and police to ensure inspection and pass functions, will certainly be carried out first of all with the government of the Syrian Arab Republic,” the minister said.

 He added that nothing could be done otherwise because the main thing in the peacemakers’ work is the agreement with the host country.

He noted that Moscow will actively contribute to the formation of such groups of military observers or police as soon as possible and with coordination and approval of Syria and ensuring effective and balanced action in those areas.

Lavrov went on to say that Moscow and Beijing have the same stances on the Syrian settlement, Russia and China support the Astana format of negotiations.

“We have coinciding approaches to the situation in Syria, including within the context of supporting the Astana platform, where an agreement was reached to create de-escalation zones in Syria,” the Russian diplomat said.

He added that implementation of the memorandum on de-escalation zones “will become a major instrument in maintaining the ceasefire, ensuring humanitarian access and creating more favorable conditions for the start of an inclusive intra-Syrian dialogue in Geneva.”

H.M