Yesterday, Russian and American experts restored consultations on a settlement of the Syrian conflict in Geneva, but it didn’t touch on a coordination of the struggle against Daesh, John Kirby, the spokesman of the US State Department, said. The spokesperson of the Russian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, also pointed out that intensification of contacts between experts was a positive trend: “Prior to this, contacts between them slowed down not because of Russia, but, unfortunately, at the initiative of the United States. Of course, the Geneva talks gave a new impetus to this process. The contacts resumed to the extent that is truly useful and can make the process more dynamic.”
At the same time, according to Zakharova, drawing a line between terrorists and the opposition is unfortunately not being addressed at all: “There must be a clear understanding (and this represents our global position) that playing around with terrorists is impossible and unacceptable. This runs contrary to international law. In this situation, it is important to remember that all the documents adopted by the International Syrian Support Group (ISSG) not only were reviewed by experts, but were also approved by the UN Security Council. It is important to remember that the international community urgently called for developing a settlement plan for the intra-Syrian conflict. These documents are based on a call to the parties concerned to do their best to draw a line between terrorists and opposition as soon as possible and as effectively as possible. The call to give up any and all military action and join the talks was intended for the opposition in the first place.”
Zakharova nored that despite all the assurances by the United States to the effect that it will take their experts two weeks to draw a line between terrorists and opposition, the things haven’t budged an inch. “This means that an essential component for the implementation of the entire package of measures adopted by the ISSG and the UN Security Council is lacking. It is impossible to start an all-out war on terrorists until certain states, claiming that the ranks of terrorists include moderate opposition, cannot or will not use their influence to take these opposition members away from the terrorist groups. This is the key problem that we still have to deal with. We spend large amounts of time and negotiating efforts.”
