Lavrov: Russia, UK do not support anyone personally in Syria

Neither Russia nor Great Britain supports anyone personally in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday, March 13, after the first meeting of the Russian-British Strategic Dialogue in the “2+2″ format. “Our common approach is that the Geneva Communique is the basis for further movement. Both the government and the opposition should form negotiating teams. The government has done that. We expect the opposition to follow suit and hope that those who work with the opposition, just like us, will urge them to form a circle of negotiators as soon as possible,” Lavrov was quoted by Russian News Agency (Itar-Tass) as saying. He stressed that the Syrians themselves “should decide their fate and the fate of [President Bashar] al-Assad.” “Our shared position is that neither we nor Great Britain defend anyone personally in Syria or place our bets on anyone specifically. We want the violence to be stopped and a political process to begin,” he said.