Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov appointed Alexander Kinshchak, the Director of the Middle East and North Africa Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, as a special representative of the diplomatic mission for the Syrian settlement. This was announced on Thursday at a briefing by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova.
"Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov appointed the Director of the Department of Middle East and North Africa of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Mr. [Alexander] Kinshchak as a special representative of the Minister for the Syrian settlement," she said.
Zakharova added that the mandate of the diplomat in the established position will include representation of the Russian side in bilateral and multilateral contacts on Syrian issues, including in Geneva and Astana formats in order to help achieve a settlement in Syria.
Alexander Kinshchak served as the Russian Ambassador to Kuwait from January 2008 to March 2013. After his resignation, he returned to the post of the Director of the Middle East and North Africa Department. From December 2014 to October 2018, he served as the Russian Ambassador to Syria, replacing Azamat Kulmukhametov.
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Photo: Mikhail Metzel / TASS
Based on materials from TASS