Field commanders should take full-fledged part in Syria political process - FM Lavrov

MOSCOW, January 17. /TASS/. Inter-Syrian talks in Astana should agree on the full-fledged participation of Syrian field commanders in the political process, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at an annual press conference on Tuesday. As the Russian foreign minister said, "only the Syrians themselves can determine the destiny of their country as part of an all-embracing inclusive dialog with the participation of all ethno-confessional and political groups of that state without any exception." "External players, be it Russia or the United States, are called upon, pursuant to the UN resolution, to create all conditions for such a dialog to take place," Lavrov said. "We were seeking precisely this over the past year. However, not all the groups of the opposition were ready for this as this process was affected by the claims of the so-called High Negotiation Committee, which sought to solely represent the entire opposition to President Assad and due to which it sabotaged the UN’s attempts to hold pan-Syrian negotiations," the Russian foreign minister said. As Lavrov stressed, one of the reasons why the negotiation process had been stalled was that the United Nations "was inviting only political oppositionists" most of whom were emigres. "All the Syrian groupings that were invited to the negotiations held by the UN are political figures, emigres or not emigres," Lavrov said. "What these negotiations lacked was the participation of those who really determine the situation on the ground. You can call them ‘armed formations,’ ‘armed groups of the opposition,’" the foreign minister said. "Now that Russia and Turkey have come up with an initiative to involve those who are confronting each other with arms in the negotiation process and after the Syrian government has signed the relevant agreement with the field commanders of the basic part of the armed opposition, we have made a very important step forward," Lavrov said. "One of the tasks of the Astana meeting is to agree that these field commanders will participate in the political process," the Russian foreign minister said. The Inter-Syrian talks in Astana are scheduled for January 23. The composition of the participants in the talks has not been disclosed yet. The inter-Syrian talks in Astana are expected to be attended by representatives of the Syrian army and armed groups of the opposition while the negotiations will focus on measures to maintain the ceasefire. Read more