Lavrov: Exerting more efforts to restore stability to Syria

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated his country's calls for halting violence in Syria according to the Geneva statement, adding that all Russia's efforts are directed towards implementing the terms of this statement. Speaking at a press conference with his Belgian counterpart Didier Reynders in Moscow on Monday, Lavrov said that all foreign players should realize the current woeful situation in Syria and work on implementing the Geneva statement. Lavrov said "I wish that the US would realize the need for doing everything to get the Geneva statement applied," adding that his country will exert efforts to restore security and stability to Syria. He recalled Russia's efforts to hold the Geneva meeting on June 30th last year with the UN former envoy to Syria Kofi Annan, adding "We were talking about 8 hours of deliberations after which we agreed on the statement, the most important of its terms is obliging all participants to call all Syrian sides to halt violence and appoint negotiators to reach an agreement on the structure and the powers granted to the transitional government. The Russian Foreign Minister added that the failure to implement the conditions is still a mystery to him till the moment, noting that his country supports the implementation of such agreements and works with the government and the opposition groups while the majority of other participants in Geneva meeting are unilateral and work with the opposition only. Lavrov stressed that Russia's mission included convincing all those who met in Geneva to realize the current tragic situation in Syria and halt violence in the country. He called upon foreign diplomats to think before making any comments on Russia's stance towards the crisis in Syria, expressing hope that other countries will be more diplomatic when they talk about Russia's actions and viewpoints towards events in Syria. He referred to such inaccurate comments made by the US State Department Spokesperson on helping Russian citizens who live in Syria, most of them were women, to travel to Russia onboard of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry airplanes upon their request. Lavrov said that the Spokesperson considered this move as an evidence on Russia's disappointment with the Syrian government and that it has stopped its support to it, stressing that this is not true as his country's stance is not about supporting this party or that and its actions are directed towards implementing the Geneva statement.