Russia has no intention to reconsider its position on Syria. It urges a halt to the violence and export of armament to the conflict zone, Vladimir Putin stated. Moscow rejects the possibility that Damascus will use chemical weapon. “We are absolutely sure and have official confirmation form Damascus that the government of the country takes all necessary measures for protection of the chemical arsenal. Of course we except a possibility of using chemical weapon in military purposes in Syria,” the deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Ryabkov told Imterfax.
Vyacheslav Matuzov, President of the Society of Friendship and Business Cooperation with Arab Countries
What is happening in Syria today can be called “international outrage.” From the very beginning of this crisis Russia proposed to shift the discussion of the issue in the Security Council, in the international forums to the political sphere. And such efforts were implemented. We remember effective influence of Syria on the position of the League of Arab states when LAS agreed with the position of Russia, despite its negative attitude to the Syrian regime, and it was decided to support the mission of Kofi Annan. The six articles by Kofi Annan originate from the LAS position. It was a united position of all Arabs on developments happening in the Arab world. It gained the support of the Security Council. The SC decision to make Kofi Annan the special envoy of the SC and LAS was the basis of political and diplomatic settlement. Later the initiative continued at the Geneva conference. Initially Russia proposed to gather this forum in Moscow. The idea of the Geneva conference was to discuss the international aspect of the Syrian problem without involvement of both sides of the conflict. It required gathering of representatives of the countries which neighboring Syria (Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, some countries of the Persian Gulf, including Saudi Arabia, and Qatar which stood for the opposition) and discuss whether any diplomatic decision would be made or some other decision. The developed final document of the Geneva conference rejected military ways of the problem settlement. However, all three states of the Syrian consensus development – the decision by LAS, the decision by the SC, and the decision of the Geneva conference – were thrown under Mars’s, the god of war, feet. Why? I often hear accusations that Russia’s position is the reason, that Russia blocked the resolution proposed by the US, France, LAS, the Arab countries, and that it opened the way to war, to the current military situation.
What is happening now is not a struggle between the Syrian authorities and the opposition. Today the Syrian government is chasing groups of people who penetrated Syria from abroad. The local population suffers from this military situation. But there is a question: who will be responsible for these military outrages? For deaths, for destroyed houses? Today we hear from the Russian Ministry for Foreign Affairs that Russian citizens are not recommended to visit Damascus and Aleppo because there is a threat to civic aviation. The Free Syrian Army made an official statement, warning for people not to fly civic planes, as they intend to bomb airports. What international laws justify support of those who threaten civic aviation?! Is it a struggle against the opposition? I think the Western policy is dead-locked. Russia is ready to help the US to find a way out.
