Lavrov underlines necessity to strengthen international efforts to ensure return of Syrian refugees to their country

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi discussed the issue of the return of refugees to Syria.

“During their meeting on Monday, Lavrov drew Grandi’s attention to the need to revitalize the efforts of the international community to ensure the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland, who will contribute to the recovery and reconstruction efforts in the country”, TASS news agency quoted the Russian Foreign Ministry as saying in a statement. 

The statement added that “the two sides exchanged views on the problem of refugees, internally displaced persons and stateless people in the world. They also discussed various aspects of cooperation between the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and Russia.”

The Ministry pointed out that the issues of the return of refugees and internally displaced persons to the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its neighboring areas were also discussed in line with the statement of the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia regarding the ceasefire and hostilities in the conflict zone in November of last year. Lavrov and Grandi also discussed the activities of the High Commissioner for the implementation of projects to assist refugees and internally displaced persons who were forced to flee their homes amid the armed conflict in the Donbass region of southeastern Ukraine.

Grandi, in turn, appreciated Russia’s active role to solve global problems of forced migration and the measures taken in Russia to regulate the legal aspects of refugees and asylum seekers.

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