Lavrov Slams Claims that De-Escalation Zones Lead to Syria’s Breakup as Provocation

MOSCOW- Russia considers claims that de-escalation zones will result in Syria’s breakup as provocation, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters on Monday, according to Itar tass.

“There are those who seek to make claims that initiators of de-escalation zones will bring about Syria’s division. This is not true, putting it mildly,” Lavrov said, noting that these “provocative statements” are similar to those used in relation to the situation in Aleppo.

 “Indeed, Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed many times that it was not the creation of preconditions to partition Syria … This is the need to begin progressing towards full ceasefire and de-escalation on the whole Syrian territory. Seeing as it is extremely hard to introduce such regime on the whole territory in one go, a decision was made to begin with these zones of which we are speaking,” Lavrov told the reporters as cited by Sputnik.

Lavrov on Qatar Crisis: Russia Needs Friendly Ties with Everyone in Middle East

Commenting on Qatar diplomatic raw, lavrov said Moscow is interested in maintaining good relations with all countries in the Middle Eastern region.

 On June 5, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates severed diplomatic relations with Qatar. The states accused Qatar of supporting terrorist groups, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood terrorist movement, as well as of interfering in other countries’ domestic affairs. Libya made a similar decision. Yemen cut diplomatic relations citing Doha’s links with Houthis. The Maldives took the same step.

“We are convinced that any divisions can take place. We were never happy over the difficulties that arose in relations of other countries. We are interested in maintaining friendly relations with everyone, especially in the region where concentration of all efforts of fighting a joint threat, the threat of international terrorism, is a priority,” Lavrov told a press conference.

He called the incident “their business, this is the bilateral ties of other states,” adding that Moscow was not interfering in these relations.

H.M