Establishing De-escalation Zones Important step towards Consolidating Cessation of Hostilities: Lavrov

PORVOO- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday that “a relatively new idea of setting up the de-escalation zones in Syria with the participation of all parties concerned and, of course, with the consent of the Syrian government, should be an important step towards consolidating the cessation of hostilities, noting the topic was discussed in Astana.”

 Following talks with his Finnish counterpart, Timo Soini, Lavrov pointed out that the Syrian government supports the idea of setting up de-escalation zones in Syria discussed in Astana.

 “We hope for the success of the current, fourth round of talks underway in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana first and foremost from the standpoint of consolidating the ceasefire, coordinating a mechanism of response to violations and carrying out mine-clearing operations,” he said, according to Itar Tass.

“We hope that the talks will continue in Geneva as early as this month, which are dedicated, above all, to efforts aimed at resolving an array of issues related to the political settlement of the conflict, when, in the end, the Syrian people themselves will determine the future of their country,” Russia’s top diplomat said.

Chemical incident

Lavrov went on to say that Western countries have been trying to stall an impartial investigation of the April 4 alleged chemical weapons incident in Syria’s Khan Shaykhun.

“We expressed our common concern over the April 4 incident involving the use of chemical weapons,” he said. “Russia insists on professional, thorough and transparent investigation, something our Western counterparts have been trying to upset.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that Moscow is alarmed over the absence of a response from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to Russia’s proposal to probe the alleged chemical incident in Syria’s Khan Shaykhun,

“We are very much alarmed over the absence of an adequate reaction from the OPCW to the Russian proposal to send a mission of experts from that organization to Syria,” the spokeswoman said.

Lavrentyev: De-escalation zones in Syria may help separate “opposition” from terrorists

On Wednesday, Presidential Special Representative for Syria Alexander Lavrentyev, the head of Russia’s delegation at the intra-Syrian talks in Astana, said that the de-escalation zones in Syria will help break the impasse in separating moderate opposition from terrorists.

“For improving the work Russia came up forward with a proposal to set up so-called de-escalation zones in Syria,” he said. “We believe that this might help set into motion the lingering problem of separating Syrian [moderate opposition] from terrorist organizations, primarily Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra (outlawed in Russia) and will help scale down the level of military confrontation between Syrian armed opposition and government forces.”

Next meeting on Syria in the Astana format in early June: Source

According to a source close to Astana meeting,”the countries acting as guarantors of the Syrian ceasefire have reached a consensus on some memorandum provisions,” the source said. “The work on the document is nearing completion.”

It is planned to sign the document by the plenary meeting later in the day. The Syrian government supported the decision to set up zones to ease tensions and reiterated its commitment to the “ceasefire”.

According to the source, the next meeting on Syria in the Astana format can be held in a month’s time, in early June.

H.M