Minsk
Russia said today it would not let Western powers ” sabotage” a political transition accord to end the escalating conflict in Syria that was reached in Geneva at the end of June. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Western
states of fomenting violence by openly supporting the armed opposition and said Russia expected a formal answer within a matter of days on whether they backed the accord.
” What was accomplished in Geneva should not be sabotaged,” Lavrov told reporters while on a a visit to Belarus.
” We will be trying to get an answer from our ( Western) partners within literally the coming days about whether they support what they signed off on in Geneva. ” If so, why are they not taking measures to implement it?” Lavrov demanded.
World powers on June 30 had agreed on a Russianbacked transition plan in Switzerland that did not make an explicit call for President Bashar al- Assad to quit power. The West swiftly made clear it saw no role for Assad in a unity government and the plans future now looks to be in further peril because of the resignation of Syria crisis mediator Kofi Annan.
Russian officials said today they wanted to keep a suspended UN monitoring mission in Syria.
UN OBSERVERS Moscow believes the UN observers in Syria should continue their work there, as a withdrawal of the mission would cause ” extremely negative consequences,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. ” We support an extension of the UN observer missions mandate in Syria,” Xinhua reported the ministry as saying.
— AFP
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