The level of trust between the Syrian opposition and the country's authorities is low and does not yet allow finding compromise solutions, Alexander Lavrentyev, the Russian President's Special Representative for Syria, said on Thursday.
"This level [of trust] is quite low and does not yet allow for the adoption of compromise solutions," he said, answering a TASS correspondent's question during an international meeting on Syria in the Astana format in Nur-Sultan.
Lavrentyev said the Russian delegation has meetings with the Syrian opposition scheduled for Thursday. "We have to see what ideas they have for rectifying the situation and establishing, increasing the level of trust between them and the Syrian government," the Russian president's special representative for Syria said. Earlier, Russian representatives held meetings with delegations from Iraq, Lebanon and international organizations.
Humanitarian situation in Syria
Lavrentyev added that humanitarian assistance to Syria should be comprehensive, improving the humanitarian situation in the Arab republic should be a priority for the international community.
"We are working to improve the humanitarian situation in Syria. This should be the main vector of the international community's efforts now," he said.
"And it's not just about providing humanitarian aid. Humanitarian aid is only part of humanitarian assistance. Because most of it should go to the implementation of various projects of vital importance and the humanitarian dimension," Lavrentyev added.
According to the special presidential representative, these projects include the repair and restoration of power, water supply, hospitals and schools. "These are the kinds of activities that require a lot of funds from the international community," he said.
"We, of course, welcome any humanitarian [aid] that the international community provides. But 80 percent of it is food. That's good, but it gets eaten up. And if the same money that the international community allocates were to go to early recovery projects, to reconstruction, it would make it much easier for the Syrians themselves to engage in self-sufficiency in food, in other basic commodities," Lavrentyev concluded.
The meeting in the Astana format is being held July 7-8 with the participation of delegations of guarantor countries (Iran, Russia and Turkey), the Syrian government and the armed opposition. Negotiators discuss the situation in the Arab republic, international humanitarian assistance, prospects for resuming the work of the Syrian Constitutional Committee in Geneva, as well as confidence-building measures, including prisoner exchange, hostage release and search for missing persons.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Evgeny Biyatov / POOL / TASS
Based on materials from TASS