Moscow sees Arab League's decision to delegate place to Syrian opposition as unlawful
MOSCOW. March 27 (Interfax) - Moscow sees the League of Arab State's decision to delegate Damascus's place in the organization to the opposition and its preparedness to provide it with military assistance as unlawful and inconsistent.
"In terms of international law, the League's decisions on Syria are unlawful and inconsistent, as the Syrian Arab Republic's government has been and remains to be a lawful representative of the UN member-state," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement available on the Foreign Ministry website.
"The decisions absolutely go against the common understandings regarding the need for a peaceful political settlement in Syria and ways to accomplish it that are stipulated primarily by the Geneva communique adopted by the Action Group for Syria on June 20, 2012, which was attended by the Arab League secretary general and some league members, including Qatar," Lukashevich said.
The Geneva communique "says about promoting agreements between the Syrian government and all opposition groups rather than setting the legitimate Syrian government against an institution whose legitimacy would be endorsed by external parties," he said.
"Apart from this, it undermines Lakhdar Brahimi's mandate as the UN and Arab League envoy authorized to establish contacts between the Syrian government and the opposition members," Lukashevich said.
Moscow is convinced that only a political settlement rather than encouragement of destructive military scenarios can stop bloodshed and ensure peace and security for all Syrians in their country, he said.
"Russia will continue to do everything it can for this. We are calling on relevant international and regional parties also to work toward attaining this very end," he added.
