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4/24/2018 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to media questions at a joint news conference following talks with Foreign Minist… http://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/2726881 3/6 We will continue to provide comprehensive assistance to the Syrian government towards restoring peace, the national economy and civilian infrastructure and resolving the acute humanitarian problems of the long-suffering Syrian population. We focused on the need to redouble joint efforts to eliminate the seat of terrorism in Syria. Overall, we call for rallying the international community towards creating a broad counterterrorism front. We are satisfied with the results of our talks, overall. We have agreed to carry on our trilateral format talks and also relations on a bilateral level too. In addition to these trilateral talks , we also held two bilateral meetings with our colleagues: with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the Syrian Arab Republic Walid Muallem yesterday, and with Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran Mohammad Javad Zarif today. We discussed bilateral relations and the implementation of agreements reached by our presidents. I am grateful to my colleagues for their cooperation. Question: What will be the three ministers’ message to the US administration in light of the recent visit of the US Secretary of State to Russia and the US act of military aggression against Syria? Sergey Lavrov (speaking after Mohammad Javad Zarif): I would like to add the following. I believe everyone will agree on the unacceptability of violations of international law. Such aggressive actions are designed to underline the agreed peace process. The UN Security Council resolution, which was adopted unanimously, says that the Syrian people themselves will decide the future of Syria. Such acts are aimed at abandoning this fundamental concept and at finding pretexts for a government change. These attempts will not succeed, absolutely not. We will insist on strict compliance with absolutely all provisions of the UN Security Council resolution, including strong commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic. Question: Why has the United States refused to support the Russian-Iranian idea of a special commission that would conduct a comprehensive investigation into the use of chemical weapons in Idlib? The initiative includes the use of UN and OPCW experts, if my memory serves me correctly? Sergey Lavrov: The attempts to block the proposal made by Russia and Iran for an independent commission to conduct an unbiased and objective investigation show that those who undertake these attempts have a guilty conscience. Evidence is growing that the chemical attack in Idlib was a staged provocation. Recent publications, including in the United States and Britain, provide professional expert opinions and say that there are very many discrepancies and inconsistencies in the reasoning used to justify the April 7 act of aggression and to facilitate the adoption of a relevant UN Security Council resolution which was not adopted two days ago, as you know. We insisted that a special meeting of the OPCW Executive Council be held. The discussion we held yesterday was very animated. The bulk of our Western colleagues tried to prevent any moves that could help establish the actual truth