Friday, March 29

Opening remarks by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov during talks with the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria G. Pedersen

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We are glad to welcome you and your team in connection with the next visit to the Russian Federation. We consider this practice very useful. We are all interested in a speedy settlement of the Syrian crisis on the basis of a UN Security Council resolution. We consider your regular contacts with all interested parties of the Syrian crisis, visits to Damascus, to the capitals of countries that can really help in moving forward, very useful and valuable.

The importance of our cooperation with you is confirmed by the fact that we are meeting today. We will seek practical progress on the Syrian settlement. We will not weaken our attention to this problem, despite the fact that now the world is trying to escalate confrontation on almost any issue concerning the activities of the Russian Federation.

To our great regret, the UN Secretary-General A.Guterres, whose representative you are, was exposed to Western pressure and made several statements the other day about what is happening in eastern Ukraine, which do not correspond to his status and his powers under the UN Charter. We specifically looked at statistics, past files, dossiers and found that there was not a single conflict when the Secretary-General, whether it was A. Guterres or his predecessors, allowed himself such statements in relation to any country. Through our representative in New York, V.A. Nebenzu, we brought our assessment of his statements to A. Guterres. Taking this opportunity, given that you have been appointed directly by him to this position, I ask you also to convey, on occasion, the possibilities of our assessment. I say this because in any conflict, including with regard to the Syrian settlement, the UN Secretariat is obliged to observe impartiality and always advocate direct dialogue between the conflicting parties, as you do in the Syrian crisis. And with regard to the situation in Ukraine, the Secretary General has never raised his voice in favor of the need to comply with the requirements of the Minsk Package of Measures, Security Council resolution 2202, which directly require solving all problems by agreement between Kiev, Donetsk and Lugansk. No one in the West has ever mentioned this and, unfortunately, the Secretary General has followed this sad example.

Let’s talk now about the Syrian crisis, within which we appreciate your desire to establish maximum contacts between the Syrians themselves, all political and ethno-confessional forces in the Syrian Arab Republic, as well as to work with external players who should help you to achieve the implementation of resolution 2254 and other decisions of the UN Security Council.

Source: https://www.mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/news/1800059/

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