Statements by Syrian opposition, White House create unfavorable atmosphere for conference on Syria - Russian Foreign Ministry
MOSCOW. May 30 (Interfax) - Russian Foreign Ministry official Alexander Lukashevich has criticized the outcome of the meeting of the general assembly of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces held in Istanbul.
"Bearing in mind that preparations for an international conference on Syria enter a responsible period in accordance with the Russian-U.S. agreements reached in Moscow on May 7, 2013, there were many expectations as to whether the opposition activists will be ready to take part in the Geneva forum. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Instead, the National Coalition issued a disappointing statement," Lukashevich said in a commentary posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry's website.
The statement says that the opposition activists who gathered in Istanbul in effect confirmed their previous stance, which was essentially an ultimatum to the Syrian government. Specifically, the statement reiterates a demand for the resignation of the Syrian president and the Syrian military and political leaders, which "should be excluded from the political process."
Other conditions were also set, which were accompanied by a demand to the international community to provide "convincing guarantees" of their fulfillment. Specifically, these demands refer to the supply of weapons and money to the armed opposition and the half of "the invasion of Syria by Iran and Hezbollah."
"Lawful questions arise in view of the above-mentioned outcome of the meeting in Istanbul," Lukashevich said. "First of all, it is not clear who really determines the approaches by these opposition activists, who call themselves "Syrian revolution and opposition forces" and who in reality work against dialogue and half of violence in Syria and consequently, against the interests of the people of Syria," the commentary says.
Lukashevich said "we are getting the impression that the forces that made the UN General Assembly pass the provocational resolution on the situation in Syria of May 15 and convinced the EU to lift its embargo on the supply of weapons to the Syrian opposition on May 27 were involved in the decisions made at the Istanbul summit," Lukashevich said.
"Among these things is the approval on May 29 by the UN Human Rights Council of the absolutely biased and politically-motivated decision blaming the Syrian government for all violations of international humanitarian law and human rights in the conflict in Syria," Lukashevich said.
"All these decisions and statements such as the one issued by a White House official yesterday on the possibility of establishing a no-fly zone over Syria make one doubt that some of our international and regional partners sincerely hope for the success of international efforts to promote political settlement in this country," he said.
"This creates an unfavorable atmosphere for the implementation of the Russian-U.S. initiative to call a peace conference, which led to hopes for the possibility of a political process in Syria," Lukashevich said.
Lukashevich also expressed hopes that "our U.S. partners will strictly observe the Russian-U.S. agreements reached on May 7 and will not let anyone force a different, militant agenda on Syria."
"It is now important to prevent the attempts made by those who clearly wish to disrupt the Russian-U.S. initiative and prepare to justify a military solution," the commentary says.
"Russia is looking to clearly continue working together with the U.S. on the Syrian track in the interests of promoting a political settlement of the crisis by the people of Syria based on the Geneva Communique issued on June 30, 2012," the document says.
"That will be our approach in the high-level consultations with U.S. and UN officials in Geneva on June 5," Lukashevich said.