Russia, Kuwait Urge Holding Geneva II without Preconditions

MOSCOW-Russia and Kuwait call for holding the international conference on Syria without preconditions, stressed the Russian Foreign Minister Sergy Lavrov during a joint press conference held on Friday in Moscow with his Kuwaiti counterpart Sabah Khaled al-Hamad al-Sabah.

The two diplomats welcomed the international resolution on chemical weapons in Syria.

“Our two countries’ stances on the Middle East and North Africa issues are close. We welcome the international resolution on chemical weapons in Syria and we warn against any provocations aiming to foil the process of implementing this resolution,” Lavrov said.

He asserted that the encouraging progress in the process of eliminating chemical weapons in Syria adds further seriousness to the issue of making the Middle East and North Africa regions free of mass destruction weapons. 

West is more realistic about Iran’s participation in Geneva II

Lavrov said that the West has started treating the possible participation of Iran in the Geneva II international conference on Syria more realistically, according to the Voice of Russia.

“The reasons, strangely justified, against the participation of Iran have been recently reevaluated and replaced by a more realistic approach. Possibly, the appearance of promising prospects for the talks on the Iranian nuclear problem contributes to this,” Lavrov clarified.

“Lately we hear more and more realistic statements from our western partners, who were opposed to the participation of Iran [in the Geneva II international conference] until recently and they referred to the fact that the Geneva II should be dedicated to the Geneva communique of 2012 and they further state that Iran has not supported the 2012 document,” Lavrov said.

 “This reason has never stood up to any criticism, just because many countries of the region, whose participation in the conference has never been questioned by our western colleagues, not only do not support, despite issuing perfunctory statements, the Geneva II in spirit, but also work surreptitiously to disrupt this event,” Lavrov said.

 “Given these circumstances, the participation of Iran in the Geneva conference is, of course, an essential factor as is the participation of the countries that exert influence on the various Syrian groups,” the Russian minister said.

Gunmen taught to handle chemical arms in Afghanistan

The Russian Minister also told a press briefing that “third party” countries might have used Afghan territory in order to teach Syrian gunmen how to handle chemical weapons in their confrontation with the Syrian authorities.

“Reports suggesting that third party countries illegally used territories beyond Kabul’s control for training gunmen to fight the Syrian government, in particular, how to handle chemical weapons, were posted a long time ago,” Lavrov said.

H .Mustafa