MOSCOW, Feb. 27, 2018
A ceasefire in Syria proposed by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is possible if all parties involved come to terms, which is a complicated process, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday.
Lavrov told a press conference that he saw many obstacles to the implementation of UNSC Resolution 2401, which requires all parties in Syria to immediately cease clashes and provide a sustained humanitarian break for at least 30 days.
The top Russian diplomat said that new attempts were undertaken to tarnish the Syrian Armed Forces which were accused of using chemical weapons in Eastern Ghouta, the last major rebel enclave near Damascus.
Lavrov said he suspected that behind such activities could be a plan of the United States and its allies to create a “quasi state” in the eastern part of Syria in spite of the UNSC’s demand to preserve the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
He also said that the ceasefire regime would not apply to the Islamic State, the Nusra Front and other terrorist groups who support their peers, continue shelling parts of the Syrian capital controlled by the government, and send car-bombs and dig tunnels to carry out terrorist attacks. “We will never support any action aimed at saving terrorists from legitimate strikes,” Lavrov said.
