RUSSIA: Russia refuses to attend Syria meeting

Record ID: 280351

  • Title: RUSSIA: Russia refuses to attend Syria meeting
  • Date: 22nd February 2012
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY EMBLEM AND NAME SIGN ON BLUE BOARD
  • Embargoed: 8th March 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Russian Federation
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVACGSTOCQ3X6DNSPFYXQ9G6DOF2
  • Story Text: Russian Foreign Ministry says Moscow will not attend an international meeting on the conflict in Syria this week because the government of President Bashar al-Assad will not be represented, urges international community to get Syrian opposition and authorities to hold talks.
    Russia will not attend an international meeting on the conflict in Syria this week because the Syrian government will not be represented, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday (February 21).
    The Friends of Syria, backed by Western powers and the Arab League, will meet in Tunis on Friday (February 24) to seek an international agreement on how to end the violence in Syria and is expected to put pressure on President Bashar al-Assad to step down.
    Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukasehvich said Russia regretted that the only Syrian representatives would be from the opposition.
    "According to incoming information, separate groups of the (Syrian) opposition have been called to Tunisia, but the representatives of the Syrian government have not been invited to the conference. This means that the interests of a large part of the Syrian population, which support the authorities, will not be represented," Lukashevich said.
    The Russian Foreign Ministry made a new call for Europe, the United States and the Arab region to join forces and bring together the Syrian opposition and government without preconditions to help them agree on reforms.
    "Russia is for all members of the world's community to appear as friends of all the Syrian people, not just a part of it. We are offering our partners in the U.S., Europe and the region to unite the efforts in the aim of sitting representatives of the government and the opposition down at a table for talks, without prior conditions, and impel them to an agreement on the general approaches to the carriyng out of overdue reforms," Lukashevich said.
    Once reforms are implemented and violence ends, it will be possible to send humanitarian aid to Syria, Lukashevich said.
    Russia and China vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution this month that would have backed an Arab plan calling for Assad to step down. The two countries also voted against a non-binding resolution in the General Assembly last week that backed the Arab plan.
    Russia's ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said on Monday that Moscow was preparing to make proposals of humanitarian relief for Syria.
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