Syrian govt, opposition should pull out troops from cities simultaneously - Lavrov
MOSCOW/ST. PETERSBURG. June 21 (Interfax) - The Syrian government and the opposition should withdraw their troops from cities and other communities simultaneously under the UN observers' control, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
Speaking to Echo Moskvy radio station on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum on Thursday, Lavrov said Russia could give its consent to increasing the number of UN military monitors in Syria.
"We deem it very important at this stage to make all the conflicting parties withdraw their armed units and military hardware from cities and other communities, but this must be done simultaneously," Lavrov said.
"It happened earlier that the Syrian government, complying with an Arab League plan, left some cities last fall, and monitors reported that this happened, and then the government entered these cities again because opposition units had occupied them in the absence of government forces," he said.
"There is a need for a plan of simultaneous withdrawal on both sides for each populated area under control of UN international monitors, the number of which we are prepared to increase," he said.