Russia ready to continue efforts to promote intra-Syrian political process - Russian diplomats

GENEVA, June 23. /TASS/. Russia is ready to push ahead with its efforts to promote intra-Syrian political process and continue the practice of organizing consultations between representatives of the Syrian government and opposition forces in Moscow, the Russian delegation said at the 29th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday. "If necessary, we are ready to continue the practice of holding consultations between representatives of Damascus and a wide spectrum of opposition groups in Moscow," a member of the Russian delegation said. "The Moscow consultations have helped to agree a common intra-Syrian platform, for the first time in the four years of conflict." The terrorist threat in Syria "has acquired a daunting scale," the Russian diplomat said and called on the commission investigating human rights violations in Syria led by Paulo Sergio Pinheiro "to keep a close eye on the activities of terrorists" from such groups as the Islamic State and Jebhat al-Nusra. The Russian diplomat noted that the international coalition’s efforts "are not yielding expected results but the death toll among civilians from bombardments, according to governmental organizations, is growing." "Isn’t it high time for the commission to pay attention to it?," he said. Touching of the "Pinheiro commission’s" report, he said, "We would like to draw attention to the thesis that support to the so-called moderate groups was the reason for the growth of terrorist activity in Syria." "Attempts to form new armed groups of the ‘moderate’ Syrian opposition to be later sent to Syria under the ‘Train & Arm’ programme shouls be interpreted in this light. Life proves that sooner or later weapons supplied to such ‘moderate’ opposition groups turn out to be in the hands of the Islamic State and other terrorist groups," he said. "We share the commission’s opinion that the recent victories of radicals were the result of close contacts between the ‘moderate’ armed opposition groups and Jebhat al-Nusra militants." Russia "shares the commission’s stance that there is no alternative to the diplomatics solutions to the Syrian crisis. It’s up to the Syrians themselves, with no pressure from outside, to decide about their future," the Russian diplomat stressed and expressed support to the efforts taken by United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura to find a way out of this crisis. Read more