Russia said on Thursday it would study a draft French resolution on a ceasefire in Syria, and was ready to cooperate with the United States through multilateral…
ADVERTISEMENTRussia said on Thursday it would study a draft French resolution on a ceasefire in Syria, and was ready to cooperate with the United States through multilateral talks.
Earlier in the week, Washington halted bilateral efforts to solve the conflict, in protest against Syrian and Russian bombings on the besieged city of Aleppo.
“We regret that our American colleagues have announced the stoppage or suspension of our bilateral work on Syria,“Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters in Moscow on Thursday.
“But we noticed that this decision didn’t include multilateral formats and we are ready to use them,” Lavrov said, speaking at a joint news conference with visiting French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault.
#BREAKING#Russia 'ready to work on' #France's draft #Syria resolution: FM Lavrov –
AFP</a> <a href="https://t.co/zcXh0Chdyk">pic.twitter.com/zcXh0Chdyk</a></p>— Dmitry Zaks (dmitryzaksAFP) October 6, 2016
Syrian bombings creating ‘tomorrow’s jihadists’
The Security Council began negotiations on Monday on a French and Spanish draft resolution that urges Russia and the United States to ensure an immediate truce in Aleppo and to “put an end to all military flights over the city”.
The ceasefire would allow aid into the besieged eastern part of the city, which has seen some of the heaviest bombing in Syria’s five-year war, and where food supplies are running short.
According to Reuters news agency, the draft text also asks U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon to propose options for U.N.-supervised monitoring of a truce and threatens to “take further measures” in the event of non-compliance by “any party to the Syrian domestic conflict”.
Ayrault will next be in Washington on Friday to seek support from the United States on the resolution.
“These bombings, this violence (in Syria) creates tomorrow’s jihadists. So we must stop the massacre but also this spiral that only strengthens terrorism,” Ayrault said.
Frustrating as it is, the U.S. should avoid intervening in Syria and keep talking to Russia. https://t.co/Vg0F3cQpsWpic.twitter.com/2GLVHxHo8n
— NYT Opinion (@nytopinion) October 6, 2016