Russian special presidential envoy to Syria, said President Bashar Al-Assad wants to stick to commitments undertaken previously concerning the transition to the political settlement after the main military phase of the fight against terrorism is completed.
In an interview to RT and Rossiya-24, Russian special presidential envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentiev said that the Russian delegation visited Damascus to discuss the issue of the future political transition with Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The talks were focused on the government’s vision of the further political settlement, according to the Russian envoy.
“We wanted to see whether Damascus is maintaining its commitment to the obligations it previously undertook. In particular, concerning the transition to a political settlement after the main military phase of the fight against terrorism is completed,” Lavrentiev said.
“It is vital that Bashar Assad is really willing to find ways to attain national reconciliation. We spoke in detail about the launch of the process for national dialogue between various parts of Syrian society,” Lavrentiev added.
“We hope that these issues will be resolved during the seventh round of talks, at least in a particular part to promote confidence-building between the conflicting parties,” according to the Russian diplomat.
The envoy added that the Russian delegation hoped to encourage Syrian foreign-backed opposition to hold a constructive dialogue with Damascus.
Lavrentiev also praised the decision to establish de-escalation zones as “very right,” adding that it was possible to “stabilize the situation on the ground to a great extent.”
“Of course there are some difficulties because of the provocations of various groups in the de-escalation zones, but we’re trying to prevent such negative incidents as much as we can. Observation posts work really well … The situation is a bit more complicated in Idlib zone where our Turkish colleagues so far have not fully put observation points in place. The tension level is still pretty high there, and there is a danger of offensives from some groups that are present there. We hope that Turkey will carry out its obligations on Idlib zone,” he said.
Source: Sputnik
