Moscow, Washington Seek Enhancing All-out Cooperation to Stabilize Situation in Syria: Zakharova

MOSCOW- Moscow and Washington are working to enhance  all-out cooperation as to solve the crisis in Syria, pointing out that Russia has presented proposals to boost this cooperation, the Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in an interview with Sputnik on Wednesday.

On whether the Foreign Ministry now expects broader coordination on Syria and counterterrorism with the United States following latest talks between US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Zakharova said “our view is that the actions and steps the US Secretary of State is taking show us that healthy forces in Washington have indeed realized the need for collective action. However, we see too that there is another camp in Washington that has not yet fully realized this need or thinks that cooperation with Russia is not a priority.”

 “We are sure that the proposals we continue to make and the level of cooperation we have demonstrated in the recent past give reason to think that we and the Americans can work together effectively, she added.

“All of our proposals remain in force and we continue to work on them. We think that this would be a promising and productive contribution towards stabilizing the situation in Syria, Zakharova said.

Asked if there have been any changes in the United States’ principles and positions on a settlement in Syria, The Russian diplomat said “our position is that the approaches taken must be based on the international legal framework set out in the Geneva communique, the UN Security Council’s resolutions, and the International Syria Support Group’s decisions. Naturally, we need to integrate these approaches in such a way as to make for more dynamic and effective work.”

“We need to make sure the process does not stall but keeps moving forward smoothly,” she added, pointing out that Russia and the United States are working on making bilateral cooperation in all aspects concerning the solution to the crisis in Syria more effective.

About when the next round of intra-Syrian talks will take place and when the International Syria Support Group will hold its next meeting, Zakharova said “at this point, I can say only that the experts in both areas, military and political, will intensify their contacts over these coming days.”

It is still too early to say when the ISSG meeting will take place, she noted.

Regarding the impact of the deteriorating situation in Turkey and of the threat of terrorism on international and regional stability, Zakharova said “we believe that the situation in Turkey should not be allowed to further destabilize the explosive situation in the region. This situation is fraught with major problems, not only for the region but also for the rest of the world. We see that events in the Middle East and North Africa affect lives in other parts of the world, for example Europe. I am referring to the issue of migrants and refugees, and terrorism, as well as their direct and indirect influence on the internal political situation in many European countries.“

Had the events in Turkey taken a more negative turn, this would have further destabilized the region, something that must be prevented, according to Zakharova.

Hamda Mustafa