Russia seeks a rapid relaunch of the direct inter-Syrian talks in Switzerland but opposes any imposition of artificial timelines, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Vasiliy Nebenzya said at Tuesday’s Security Council meeting.
"We hope for a quick relaunch of the direct inter-Syrian dialogue in Geneva. It is vital that this process continue to be led and managed by the Syrians themselves without foreign interference or imposition of artificial timelines but with the UN’s neutral mediation," TASS cited him as saying.
On July 9, the Security Council adopted a resolution on further cross-border humanitarian aid for Syria. The paper was prepared by Russia, the US, Ireland and Norway. It prolongs the operation of the Bab al-Hawa checkpoint on the Syrian-Turkish border for 12 month, under the condition that the UN Secretary General presents a report on the cross-border aid mechanism in six months since the resolution’s adoption.
The final document was a compromise between the proposal of Ireland and Norway - who suggested reopening one additional checkpoint on the Iraqi border - and that of Russia, who suggested prolonging only the Bab al-Hawa operation, and only for six months.
