MOSCOW, February 17. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday blamed extremist groups for problems in Syria.
“As for statements that the United States will increase their pressure on Damascus: if political pressure is meant, then we have always supported the United States in working directly with the Syrian authorities,” Lavrov said.
“I have spoken about that with [US Secretary of State] John Kerry, including his calls to influence the [Syrian] regime to make it easier to deal with regarding many things, be it the humanitarian situation in different parts of the country or the talks in Geneva,” he said.
“First of all, we work daily with the Syrian authorities, and second, statistics show that these problems are not created by the regime but by extremist groups, which have spawned in Syria in great numbers and which do not obey any political opposition structure,” the Russian foreign minister said.
“I have recalled many times that at last year’s summit [in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland], the G8 leaders called on the government and opposition to unite in the fight against terrorists who have infested Syria,” he said.
The first round of the Geneva-2 international peace conference on Syria was held in January and ended with no substantive results. The parties to the Syrian conflict resumed talks on February 10, but the second round of intra-Syrian talks, which ended in Geneva on Saturday, February 15, brought no progress either. The sides are set to continue their discussions......................http://en.itar-tass.com/world/719477
17/2/14
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Russian FM warns foreign media against manipulating facts...
ReplyDeleteLavrov said sometimes different media had shown “pictures of what was happening in Iraq 10 years ago but passed it off as what is happening in Syria today”.
MOSCOW, February 17. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday called on foreign media to avoid juggling with facts.
“There are many facts that prove the presence of absolutely deliberate attempts to form a certain public opinion, a certain information picture, and [media] do not shun manipulations and blatant lies,” Lavrov said.
The foreign minister was answering a question from foreign journalists how the Russian authorities’ hosting of the Olympic Winter Games in the southern resort of Sochi and support for the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad could go together.
Lavrov said sometimes different media had shown “pictures of what was happening in Iraq 10 years ago but passed it off as what is happening in Syria today.”
“Some Middle East and Persian Gulf television corporations gained notoriety for such reporting from the scene,” he said without elaborating.
British media reported in May 2012 that the BBC used a photograph from Iraq to illustrate the situation in Syria, which has been engulfed in a civil war since 2011, with more than 100,000 people killed and millions displaced.
Lavrov did not explain which Middle East and Persian Gulf media he meant.
The Russian foreign minister also cited the example of unnamed Western media showing confusing pictures from Ukraine, which has been hit by anti-government protests.................http://en.itar-tass.com/russia/719511
17/2/14
Western countries prevented UN SC from condemning actions of Syrian militants in Kasab...
ReplyDeleteThe Elements for the Press about the actions of militants in Kasab and the shelling of Latakia did not find support with Western colleagues at the UN SC, an official at the Russian Permanent Mission at the UN said.
UNITED NATIONS, April 04. /ITAR-TASS/. Western countries at the UN Security Council (UN SC) did not allow Russia to secure a reaction to the Syrian militants' actions in the city of Kasab, inhabited by ethnic Armenians, as well as to the shooting on the port of Latakia by armed groups, the shooting that led to a suspension of the removal of chemical weapons from the country, an official at the Russian Permanent Mission at the UN told ITAR-TASS on Thursday.
"The Elements for the Press, suggested by us about the actions of militants in Kasab and the shelling of Latakia, did not find support with Western colleagues at the UN SC," the Russian Mission official said.
The Russian-prepared draft Elements for the Press condemn "the latest attacks by Syrian opposition groups, among them those connected to al Qaeda, on the city of Kasab populated by Syrian Armenians", the official said.