Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
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Moscow, SANA – Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura stressed the need to further consolidate the positive results achieved at the UN-sponsored Geneva talks on Syria.
The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that the two sides “emphasized during a meeting held today the need to continue and step up the talks, ensuring that they are inclusive, as well as the need to pay special attention to the fight against terrorism.”
“The special envoy highly appreciated Russia’s efforts about ensuring the implementation of the cessation of hostilities in Syria, including the implementation of the memorandum on creating de-escalation zones in the Syrian Arab Republic, signed on May 4,” said the Ministry, adding that “de-Mistura noted with satisfaction that talks in Geneva and the Astana process complement each other.”
Earlier, Lavrov underlined during his meeting with the international envoy the importance of coordinating efforts among all parties concerned to solve the crisis in Syria.
Russian Defense Minister: cessation of hostilities is holding in all de-escalation zones
“The cessation of hostilities” in Syria is actually holding in all the de-escalation zones despite several violations which have been recorded, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Thursday.
Meeting de Mistura, Shoigu noted that those violations are not serious and do not require the forces responsible for monitoring the ceasefire to take any steps.”
He also thanked de Mistura for immediately accepting the Russian Defense Ministry’s proposal to hold additional consultations on the situation in Syria, indicating that the two sides discussed a number of issues related to the further steps aimed at strengthening “the ceasefire” in the de-escalation zones and solving specific political problems.
For his part, de Mistura expressed hope that significant results can be achieved through the talks on Syria, taking into account the current events taking place in the region, adding that any progress would increase the opportunities for success regarding Geneva talks.
R.Raslan/Mazen
