Russia calls on UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen not to set artificial deadlines for the work of the Syrian Constitutional Committee, Russia's Permanent Representative to the world organization, Vasily Nebenzya, said on Tuesday, speaking at a Security Council meeting.
"We urge the special envoy to facilitate the inter-Syrian dialogue and not to set it with artificial preconditions and deadlines," he said. - "We expect the special envoy to concentrate on convening the sixth session of the committee and not be distracted by situations that are sometimes deliberately inflated".
"We look forward to resuming the activities of the Constitutional Committee in Geneva in the coming period. It is necessary that this process remain led and carried out by the Syrians themselves without interference from outside," Nebenzya noted. - "We support the efforts of Geir Pedersen in this direction".
Evacuation of children
Russia intends to take home 106 Russian children remaining in the Syrian Al-Hawl refugee camp in the northeast of the country soon, Nebenzya said.
"The children remaining in Al-Hawl will also return home soon. That's another 106 children. Given the deteriorating security situation in the camp, we call on our colleagues to follow our example," he said.
Nebenzya recalled that Russia had already evacuated its children from Roj refugee camp in July.
In the summer of 2017, Russia began systematic work to locate and return to their homeland underage Russian citizens who were in Iraq and Syria. The work is carried out by order of the President of the Russian Federation. During this time, 341 children were returned to their homeland from Iraq and Syria.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS