Syria ceasefire more likely to fail than succeed, says Russian FM
- 8 years ago
Russia’s foreign minister said a Syrian ceasefire set to start next week is more likely to fail than succeed.
Sergey Lavrov was speaking at a security conference in the German city of Munich on Saturday (February 13), one day after the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) agreed to a “cessation of hostilities.”
Lavrov warned against demonising Syria’s president Bashar Assad. He said that Syrian opposition forces had besieged thousands of civilians.
“My point is, you should not demonise [Syrian President Bashar] Assad, you shouldn’t demonise anyone except terrorists in Syria, and the humanitarian issues must be resolved through co-operation. Mind you, to say unless all humanitarian problems are over, unless violence stops completely, we are not going to negotiate, is a road to nowhere. It’s a blunt provocation.”
International divisions over Syria resurfaced at the German conference where Russia rejected French accusations that it was bombing civilians.
US Secretary of
Sergey Lavrov was speaking at a security conference in the German city of Munich on Saturday (February 13), one day after the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) agreed to a “cessation of hostilities.”
Lavrov warned against demonising Syria’s president Bashar Assad. He said that Syrian opposition forces had besieged thousands of civilians.
“My point is, you should not demonise [Syrian President Bashar] Assad, you shouldn’t demonise anyone except terrorists in Syria, and the humanitarian issues must be resolved through co-operation. Mind you, to say unless all humanitarian problems are over, unless violence stops completely, we are not going to negotiate, is a road to nowhere. It’s a blunt provocation.”
International divisions over Syria resurfaced at the German conference where Russia rejected French accusations that it was bombing civilians.
US Secretary of