RUSSIA: Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Russia is studying UN-Arab League peacekeeping proposal in Syria, but calls for ceasefire before mission can start
Record ID:
643998
RUSSIA: Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Russia is studying UN-Arab League peacekeeping proposal in Syria, but calls for ceasefire before mission can start
- Title: RUSSIA: Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Russia is studying UN-Arab League peacekeeping proposal in Syria, but calls for ceasefire before mission can start
- Date: 14th February 2012
- Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (FEBRUARY 13, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF RUSSIA FOREIGN MINISTRY VILLA JOURNALISTS AT BRIEFING RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SERGEI LAVROV AND SHEIKH ABDULLAH BIN ZAYED AL NAHYAN, UAE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AT BRIEFING (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SERGEI LAVROV, SAYING: "Yesterday the foreign ministers of the League of Arab States took a new decision to start an initiative to send a peacekeeping mission to Syria, a mission which would be a joint mission between the Arab League and the United Nations." JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SERGEI LAVROV, SAYING: "We are studying this initiative, and we count on the fact that our friends in the Arab League will give us clarification on several points." SHEIKH ABDULLAH BIN ZAYED AL NAHYAN, UAE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AT BRIEFING (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SERGEI LAVROV, SAYING: "A peacekeeping mission - or, as the United Nations describes it, a mission to support peace - must have peace to start with in order to support it." JOURNALISTS AT BRIEFING (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SERGEI LAVROV, SAYING: "And this phrase in itself calls for a ceasefire." RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SERGEI LAVROV AND SHEIKH ABDULLAH BIN ZAYED AL NAHYAN, UAE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AT BRIEFING JOURNALISTS AT BRIEFING
- Embargoed: 29th February 2012 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Russian Federation
- Country: Russia
- Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA5OQ3NRTMHCQX4PHBPH8A5V95O
- Story Text: Russia is studying an Arab-U.N. proposal to send a peacekeeping mission to Syria but wants more details and says violence should end before any such mission takes place, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday (February 13).
Lavrov repeated Russia's stance that international pressure to end nearly a year of bloodshed in Syria should focus on the Syrian opposition as well as the government.
"Yesterday the foreign ministers of the League of Arab States took a new decision to start an initiative to send a peacekeeping mission to Syria, a mission which would be a joint mission between the Arab League and the United Nations," Lavrov told reporters, adding, "We are studying this initiative, and we count on the fact that our friends in the Arab League will give us clarification on several points."
Lavrov said the fundamental idea of a peacekeeping mission required "peace first", which the peacekeepers would work to uphold.
"A peacekeeping mission - or, as the United Nations describes it, a mission to support peace - must have peace to start with in order to support it...and this phrase in itself calls for a ceasefire." Lavrov told a news conference after meeting United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed al-Nahyanin in Moscow.
But he suggested opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were not ready to halt violence and that the current situation lacked any kind of mechanism for bringing about a temporary peace.
Moscow, long a staunch ally of the Syrian government -- which is an arms client and hosts a Russian naval base -- has twice used its veto to block U.N. Security Council resolutions on Syria, provoking sharp criticism from Western powers this month. Russia has said it fears a resolution on Syria would open the door to foreign military intervention and sanctions, which it opposes. It says unclear wording on a March 2010 U.N. resolution on Libya was exploited by NATO to help rebels oust Muammar Gaddafi with aerial bombardments. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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