Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
Hamburg, SANA-Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday that he agreed with US Secretary of State John Kerry to hold a meeting next Saturday in Geneva for the Russian experts and their US counterparts on the situation in Aleppo, hoping the meeting wouldn’t fail.
Lavrov, at a press conference on the sidelines of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Ministerial Council, called on the UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura to stop hindering the political settlement process in Syria, saying “a date should be set for the negotiations.”
He affirmed that Moscow’s strategy is totally based on the UN Security Council resolutions, saying “Terrorists should be eliminated, in parallel, the humanitarian problems of civilians in Syria have to be resolved as well as the political process in this country has to be launched.”
“The military process in Aleppo stopped today for humanitarian purposes, Lavrov said, adding that there is a big humanitarian process to get the civilians out of the eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo through a 5 KM passage in order to evacuate a convoy of 8 thousand persons.”
Russian Foreign Ministry: Lavrov, Kerry talks affirmed the need to resume intra-Syrian dialogue
Earlier, Lavrov’s meeting with his US counterpart John Kerry in the German city of Hamburg focused on the latest field developments in Aleppo with the two sides stressing the need to resume the Syrian talks under the aegis of the United Nations as soon as possible, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Ministry added that Minister Lavrov, during the talks held on the sidelines of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Ministerial Council, affirmed that the main condition to solve the crisis in Syria is to firmly combat terrorist organizations.
Speaking to the journalists, Kerry said that Moscow and the US continue work to find a solution to the crisis in Syria. “We have to wait for certain feedback and input, but we are working on something,” he noted, adding that he was “hopeful” about a potential breakthrough.
An American official said that no progress has been made regarding the situation in Aleppo, indicating that Kerry told journalists that efforts will continue to reach an agreement.
R.Raslan/Mazen
