‘’The assistance to the parties in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict refers to a number of the priorities of Russian foreign policy’’, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova said today. According to her, This issue was considered in detail during the official visit of the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan to Moscow in April-May this year. It is also the subject of ongoing contacts between Sergey Lavrov and his foreign colleagues.
On this issue, the Foreign Ministry is working closely with the United States and France. Recently, on the sidelines of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly, the Russian Foreign Minister held a meeting with the OSCE Minsk Group, where essential and practical aspects of the settlement were considered on the eve of the forthcoming visit of the co-chairs to the region this month. Also, they discussed issues of the coordination of the actions of the aforementioned co-chairs.
‘’Unfortunately, resumption of the political dialogue is complicated by the worsening situation in the conflict zone, the increase in the number of casualties, including those among civilians. We believe that further escalation is simply unacceptable. We call on the parties to renounce the use of force, to demonstrate the political will that is necessary to reach a compromise,’’ Zakharova said.
Responding to a question about whether Russia intends to cooperate with Iran, Azerbaijan and Turkey in the fight against terrorism, Zakharova said: ‘’We do not have limits or a list of the countries with which we are ready to cooperate on the issue of the combating the terrorism and with which we are not ready to do this. This is a fundamental difference that distinguishes us from our Western colleagues. We affirm that in order to achieve the main goal for today or the basic problem, namely the fight against terrorism, we are ready to cooperate with all the players, from any country, with any powers, to make the fight more effective. And with Turkey and Iran, Azerbaijan, and we are not just ready, we are conducting an appropriate dialogue. You know about the negotiations at different levels, meetings, negotiations, phone calls, we regularly inform you about the events that take place at different levels with the representatives of these countries, I mean with the Russian side. Therefore, there are no limits. I repeat, we conducted, conduct and will conduct dialogue. The tragic events of recent days in Turkey, the bloody terrorist attack underscored the need for even greater effort and coordination, and rallying the ranks of those who oppose terrorism wherever it may be, no matter how it is called, it does not matter. Those who commit such acts, whatever they are called, they deserve only one thing, they deserve rejection of their activities at all levels, by all organizations, by all countries to prevent such activities, penalties, in fact, destruction, because it is necessary to fight the terrorism. "
As for the military-political situation in Syria, then, according to Zakharova, it is developing very dynamically, "Russian air forces continue to strike strongholds and infrastructure facilities of ISIS and other terrorist groups, the Ministry of Defence informs you about this in detail on a daily basis. There were cases when foreign terrorists left their positions and went to neighboring countries, the Syrian army is developing an offensive against terrorist operatives in the provinces of Hama, Idlib, Aleppo and Latakia. Several settlements have been liberated.
On the night of October 13th, US transport aircraft with fighter cover carried out a dumping of 50 tons of weapons and ammunition over the province of Hasakah in northeastern Syria. Officially, the goods were addressed to some little-known armed groups, the commanders of which supposedly expressed their willingness to fight ISIS. Frankly speaking, after such messages, there is also proven evidence, the question arises: ‘In fact, who really gets these weapons? And what will the consequences be of this sowing? What fruits will it bring?’ I think that no one has a clear answer to this question. No one knows in whose hands these weapons have gone.
On October 13th, a mortar bombardment was carried out against the Russian embassy in Damascus, as we were informed through our embassy. The terrorist attack was carried out against a background of wild, I do not have a better word, anti-Russian propaganda and information campaign, the large incitement that has been deployed due to the combat operations of the Russian air forces against the international terrorists in Syria. We hope that yesterday’s shelling, nearly turning into a tragedy, will make think deeply about all those who groundlessly accuse us of no selectivity in the Russian attacks. Again I ask the question: ‘What results are those who deploy this information war seeking?
On the same day, some obviously biased media quoted the statements of the leader of the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda, namely Al-Nusra Dzhabhat, Mr. Dzhulani, who urged other international terrorists to kill Russian soldiers, wherever they are. This is similar to what we have said. Now it is in the example of the Syrian crisis. Few publications published the statement of Dzhulani, completely telling that in first place among the enemies of the terrorist movement he puts not Russia, he puts, the verbatim quote ‘the crusaders from the West.’ This is a selective approach to information. I emphasize that in today's reports there was not a word about the position of Russia, but the same time the words and statements of ISIS were quoted and displayed.
We are constantly calling for the Syrian internal and external opposition to objectively assess the reality and situation. In this regard we note that the Istanbul-based National Coalition of the Syrian Revolution and Opposition, which has announced a boycott of the efforts of the UN Secretary General special envoy on Syria, Mr. de Mistura, is losing its credibility and influence every day. The apparent failure of the Istanbul opposition to confirm the status of the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people is obvious.
During intensive contacts with Damascus, with international and regional partners, we are clearly identifying and stressing the lack of an alternative political solution to the Syrian crisis through a Syrian dialogue on the basis of the Geneva communiqué of June 30th 2012.
Zakharova drew attention to the thesis that Russia should not support Bashar al-Assad, because "he is the reason for the growth of the terrorist activity in Syria. " we do not support Assad, it is important for us to preserve the Syrian state. But all the time we are convinced that if Assad goes, this terrorist activity will decline, as ISIS fights because of al-Assad. If so, this logic is a direct fulfillment of the requirements of the terrorists. It is impossible to understand in any other way. And frankly, it is insane to hear that the civilized world offers to meet the demands of international terrorism. In all cases, before that, when it came to the international terrorism and terrorist acts, the world spoke with one voice and acted very decisively. Nobody offered to go to fulfill the requirements of the terrorists to weaken their influence and minimize their impact. On the contrary, everyone was talking about the need to strengthen the fight against these groups.’’
