News / Russia

Russia hopes Munich meeting leads to Syria crisis settlement

Wednesday, 10 February 2016 10:30 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 10 February 2016 10:38 AM ]

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova

The Russian Foreign Ministry has raised hope that the upcoming meeting of major powers in the German city of Munich will have a positive outcome for ending the Syrian crisis.

"It is now important not to lose the emerging trend and to consider the entire range of issues which need to be resolved for setting the process forth and making it dynamic again," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

Members of the International Syria Support Group, comprising 17 countries and three organizations trying to find a way out of the conflict, will meet in Germany later this week to find a political solution to the nearly five-year-long crisis in Syria. It is the group’s first meeting since the UN-brokered peace talks between delegates from the Syrian government and divided opposition suspended in the Swiss city of Geneva earlier this month.

"I think this is what meetings on the margins of the Munich Security Conference, the meeting in the Vienna format and bilateral meetings will be devoted to," Zakharova said.

The spokeswoman added that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will take part in the Munich meeting and is planned to meet with US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (AFP photo)

Lavrov said on Tuesday that Moscow presented a proposal for ending the conflict in the Arab country to the US, adding that Washington is reflecting on it.

Since September 2014, the US along with some of its allies has been conducting air raids against the alleged Daesh elements without any authorization from Damascus or a UN mandate. The strikes have failed to disband the extremists.

Russia launched its campaign against Daesh and other terrorist groups in Syria last September upon a request from the Damascus government. The air raids have expedited the advances of Syrian forces against militants.

Russia’s international partners are trying to hold Moscow responsible for the situation in Syria, but, at the same time, they are asking it to settle the problem of Syria and “ensure a ceasefire” there.

The foreign-backed conflict in Syria, which began in March 2011, has claimed the lives of more than 260,000 people and displaced almost half of the country’s population.

Russia is among the countries supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, saying it is up to the Syrians to decide about their fate.

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