Russia opposes the idea of setting up a no-fly zone over Syria

Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov expressed his country’s deep concern over the situation in Syria noting that Russia is calling upon each of damascus and ankara to self restraint. Radio moscow quoted Gennady Gatilov as saying urging restraint between Syria and NATO-member Turkey. Ankara has repeatedly complained of artillery and gunfire spilling over its border and last week it signaled it would take action if there was a repeat of a mortar strike on its territory from inside Syria. “We believe both Syrian and Turkish authorities should exercise maximum restraint in this situation, taking into account the risings number of radicals among the Syrian opposition who can intentionally provoke conflicts on the border,” Gatilov was quoted as saying. Russia told NATO and world powers on Tuesday they should not seek ways to intervene in the Syrian war or set up buffer zones between rebels and government forces. The statements from Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov was one of Moscow’s most specific warnings yet to the West and Gulf Arab leaders to keep out of the 18-month-old conflict. Gatilov also said that Russia opposes the idea of setting up a no-fly zone over Syria, which it says would be a violation of Syria’s sovereignty. Earlier last month Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Viktorovich Lavrov said the creation of a no-fly zone over Syria would violate the United Nations Charter, Lavrov said in an interview with Sky News Arabia. “If these zones are going to cover the territory of the Syrian state, this will constitute a violation of its sovereignty and of the U.N. Charter,” Lavrov said, adding that it was not the first time he heard about the idea of security zones and no-fly zones. Moscow believes the imposition of the no-fly zone” under the pretext of preventing a humanitarian crisis” in Syria is unacceptable, Lavrov said. He also called on the Western countries to adhere to the agreements reached by the Action Group on Syria, saying they were the most important ones reached by the West, Russia, China, Turkey and some of the major Arab states. Lavrov also said the reason Russia and China vetoed draft resolutions submitted by the Western countries to the U.N. Security Council on the Syria issue was that the two countries hoped to safeguard the basic principles of “respect for other countries’ national sovereignty” and “non-interference in other nations’ internal affairs” as enshrined in the U.N. Charter. Russia believes that the Syrian people’s suffering could be eased through necessary negotiations between relevant parties, and through such channels as the involvement of U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos and the U.N. High Commissioner of Refugees, he said.