syria-un-20171221 3

4/23/2018 Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and response to a media question at a joint news conference following talks with UN Secretary… http://www.mid.ru/en/press_service/minister_speeches/-/asset_publisher/7OvQR5KJWVmR/content/id/3000048 3/5 assistance with promoting the agenda of a particular external player. It is imperative to strictly abide by the rules of international humanitarian law, impartiality and lack of bias. I look forward to our colleagues from the UN, I mean the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, following these principles in their subsequent steps. Today we also talked about the need to step up UN efforts to coordinate the agreement on the [UN] involvement in humanitarian mine clearing. So far, the UN potential in this area has not been used. We believe this to be wrong. Speaking about the humanitarian situation in Syria, unilateral sanctions imposed by some Western countries on Syria must certainly be lifted as they are having negative effects primarily on ordinary people. In my view, our talks today were very helpful. We have an understanding that Russia, Iran, Turkey and the UN have a common goal, which is a comprehensive and complete implementation of Resolution 2254 on a Syrian settlement under the auspices of the UN, which includes drafting a new constitution and preparations for holding general elections on its basis that will be overseen by the UN. We have agreed to maintain contacts, compare notes and coordinate our efforts as the political process and the situation on the ground develop. Question: After the victory over terrorists in Syria, tensions still remain in the fourth de-escalation zone in Idlib, where large numbers of militants from Jabhat al-Nusra have fled. Do countries guaranteeing the [de-escalation] process, which are Russia, Turkey and Iran, have the intention to defuse the tensions in this de-escalation zone? Is the transfer of control over all de-escalation zones to the Syrian Army being contemplated? Sergey Lavrov: Certainly, our goal is to defuse the tensions, which can be seen from the very term – de-escalation. We are working together with our partners in both this zone and others. In this case, our partners are Turkey and Iran, and our three countries are guaranteeing the de-escalation process. We have coordinated how these zones will operate, including observation and checkpoints where the military from our three countries will be sent. Of course, it is a troublesome zone and, perhaps, the most difficult one. Indeed, militants from Jabhat al-Nusra are still there and we are working with them, urging them to stop the violence. I believe that if they fail to fulfil the agreements reached by the countries guaranteeing the de-escalation process and tensions continue to run high, the military from the three countries will agree on the measures that will allow them to put an end to this unacceptable activity. As for the future of the de-escalation zones, they have not been created to last forever. At this stage, they have been established for six months with the possibility of extension. This will be decided by our colleagues from the military through their contacts with their counterparts in Iran and Turkey. In addition to the need to stop armed skirmishes and hostilities, another reason why we are vigorously pushing for the de-escalation zones is that we see them as the first step towards national dialogue on national reconciliation and the establishment of absolutely pragmatic contacts between the loca