The fight against terrorism in Syria remains one of the priority issues, despite the fact that Moscow notes the gradual stabilization of the situation in the republic. Alexander Lavrentyev, the Russian President's Special Representative for the Syrian Settlement, said on Thursday at a press conference on the results of the 16th international meeting on Syria in the Astana format.
"In discussing the issues, of course, we focused on those that are currently of particular relevance. But nevertheless, we stopped at the very beginning when considering the situation in Syria on the need to continue the fight against terrorist groups, despite the general trend towards the gradual stabilization of the situation on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic. This fight has to be continued," he said.
According to him, this must be done in spite of calls from several European countries for a national ceasefire, because the terrorist threat has still not been eradicated. "We should all understand that this measure, although it makes some sense for the future and should be sought, but at the moment it can limit the action including the government forces, and international efforts to combat terrorist organizations, which still retain quite a lot of potential," the diplomat concluded.
Relations between the Syrian government and opposition
According to him, Russia notes the prospects of a gradual increase in the level of trust between the Syrian government and the opposition.
"We have had very interesting conversations with both the Syrian opposition and the Syrian government," he said. - "We see that there are some prospects for a gradual increase in the level of trust".
Lavrentyev noted, however, that this process [increasing the level of trust] is a very long one and requires mutual steps in each other's direction. "This is exactly what we are counting on," he added.
Fighting terrorism
It is necessary to continue the fight against terrorist groups on the territory of Syria until their complete elimination without any indulgence, the special representative of the Russian president believes.
"There can be no whitewashing of terrorists, no rebranding them into a moderate opposition either," he noted. - "The fight against terrorist groups must continue until their final and complete destruction. There should not be any easing in this direction".
The Office of the Special Representative also drew attention to a joint statement, adopted as a result of the discussions, which clearly demonstrates the attitude of the participants to the presence of various terrorist groups in the territory of Syria. "We don't accept it," he stressed. - "This is a clear position not only of Russia and other guarantor countries but also of the main countries of the anti-Hitler coalition."
Exchange of prisoners
Russia, as the special representative emphasized, counts on the successful continuation of the prisoner exchange in Syria.
"We believe it is also very important, although some put this issue in a different plane, the question of the exchange of detainees, prisoners, the search for the missing. We believe that this is the most urgent task, which international organizations have also joined in," he said. - "This work will continue and we hope that in the future we will be able to facilitate the release of the people who are waiting for them in their families".
Lavrentyev noted that the working group on the release of detainees and hostages, the transfer of bodies of the dead and the search for the missing in Syria, which functions within the framework of the Astana format, has done a great job. "Some people think that the exchange that took place recently - five by five people - means nothing, very little. But everyone should be well aware that the exchange of detainees is a very time-consuming, complex, very delicate process, with human lives at stake," he stressed.
"Vicious practice" of the West
The issues of humanitarian aid to the Syrian people must come to the fore, the West needs to stop the "vicious practice" of collective punishment of Syria, Lavrentyev said at a press conference.
"We believe that our past consultations here in Nur-Sultan allow us to expect that our appeal to the international community [will allow] to shift the focus from the issues of stabilizing the situation from the military perspective in the Syrian Arab Republic to the issues of all the same humanitarian nature and providing humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people. I will stress once again: they do not want to talk in the West about the Syrian government, but they should still understand that this is for the benefit of the Syrian people. And it is necessary, of course, to stop this, in our opinion, the absolutely vicious practice of collective punishment of the Syrian people," he said.
Russia advocates the creation of a mechanism for the delivery of humanitarian aid to all parts of Syria through Damascus. " We think that the efforts of the international community should create a normal, well-functioning, efficient and effective mechanism for delivering aid to all parts of the Syrian Arab Republic directly through Damascus," the special representative of the Russian president said.
Lavrentyev emphasized that Syria is the only country in the world, to which "a somewhat perverted principle of cross-border operations" is applied with regard to the delivery of humanitarian aid. Moscow, on the other hand, stands for the observance of international law in this matter.
Withdrawal of foreign military contingents
The presence of foreign military contingents in Syria is temporary and they should be withdrawn from the country soon, Lavrentyev said.
"We very much hope that the presence of a limited US contingent and a number of Western countries in northeast Syria, as well as the Turkish contingent in the northwest, is temporary," he said. - "All these military contingents will be withdrawn soon as the situation stabilizes," he said.
Lavrentiev pointed out that the withdrawal of foreign soldiers would not only ensure the preservation of Syrian sovereignty and territorial integrity, but also help to put an end to illegal mining on Syrian territory.
According to him, the plundering of Syria's subsoil is "absolutely unacceptable." "The natural wealth must belong to the Syrian people and be distributed fairly in the interests of all ethnic groups inhabiting Syria," Lavrentyev stressed.
Date of Constitutional Committee meeting
Russia also expects UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen to announce a date for the sixth meeting of the Syrian Constitutional Committee in the near future.
"We came to a common understanding and stimulated Geir Pedersen to intensify his work, remove all remaining rough edges, details, working points and announce the convening of the sixth session of the Constitutional Committee as soon as possible," he said.
According to Lavrentyev, Russia expects that "this work won't be dragged out for too long and that regular meetings and communication between the opposing sides will be organized in order to find sensible compromise solutions and come to a common understanding, moving forward the process of preparing changes to the constitution".
The previous session of the small group of the Syrian Constitutional Committee was held in January of this year in Geneva.
Electricity and water supplies to Aleppo and Hasakah
Electricity and water supplies to Aleppo and Hasakah should be restored to previous levels in the near future, Lavrentiev also said.
He explained that the issue of water and electricity supplies go together. "We see that in recent months, the water level in the Euphrates, which according to the agreements concluded between the Republic of Turkey and the Syrian Arab Republic should correspond to 500 cubic meters per second, has fallen sharply by more than half. Shallowing of the river has occurred, there was a threat of suspension of activity of Tishrin and Tabqa dams with subsequent negative consequences of power supply not only to the north-eastern regions, but also to the central regions of Syria," he pointed out.
Lavrentyev noted that this topic was discussed with Turkish representatives. "We raised this issue in a conversation with our Turkish colleagues, they are keeping it under control. They also explain it by the situation in the Republic of Turkey and assured us that the level of water discharge into the Euphrates from Turkey has already returned to its pre-crisis values. This means that electricity supplies will be resumed in the very near future, let's hope so," concluded the Russian president's special representative.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Creative Commons
Based on materials from TASS