Moscow wants to understand Syrian opposition unification prospects
MOSCOW. July 11 (Interfax) - During a conversation with head of the Syrian National Council (SNC) Abdulbaset Sieda, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he is hoping to understand how great the prospects are for unification of the Syrian opposition.
"We are interested in your assessments of the situation within the opposition movement, the SNC relations with other groups of the external opposition, and especially with the internal opposition, so as to understand how great the prospects are, and how stable the prospect is, for unification of all opposition groups on the platform of dialogue with the government, as envisaged by Kofi Annan's plan approved by the United Nations Security Council," Lavrov said before his meeting with Sieda.
"Today we would like to explain our position once again. We have done so repeatedly, but sometimes your organization has questions as to what we are doing. Today we want to address these questions to remove doubts," the Russian minister said.
Having supported Annan's plan, Russia "unequivocally reaffirmed the need for swift cessation of violence in any form by all sides and transition to a dialogue involving both the government and all opposition groups, which would see Syrians themselves deciding their country's future, starting from agreeing upon parameters and timeframe for the transitional process," Lavrov also said.
Currently, a revolution is going on in Syria, said Sieda, drawing parallels with the Russian history.
"I would like to make it clear: the essence of what is happening in Syria is not differences between the government and the Syrian people but a revolution in the literary sense of this word, similar to the events Russia experienced when it did away with the old regime and embarked on the path of democratic development," the SNC chief said.
