‘Sponsors’ of Syrian Rebels Sabotage Geneva-2 – Russian MP

Source : RIA Novosti

MOSCOW, October 27 (RIA Novosti) – A senior Russian lawmaker said Sunday that the recent refusal of 19 Syrian opposition groups to attend a peace conference in Geneva was instigated by their foreign backers.

“Nineteen groups in the Syrian opposition, which is incapable of acting without outside support, ‘rejected’ Geneva-2. It means their sponsors want it to fall through,” Alexei Pushkov, the head of State Duma’s foreign policy committee, said on Twitter.

The militant groups, most of them moderate Islamists, announced their decision in a joint statement on late Saturday.

Geneva-2, tentatively set for November 23, is meant to bring the Syrian government and the rebels to the negotiation table in hopes of ending the 2 1/2-year-long civil strife in the Middle Eastern country.

Pushkov, a former TV host and a foreign policy hawk, did not name the alleged sponsors.

But he has previously criticized Western countries, particularly t United States, for their support of the Syrian opposition in their battle against the Moscow-backed government in Damascus.

A number of groups in the fractured Syrian opposition have already voiced reluctance to participate in Geneva-2, which is set up jointly by Moscow and Washington.

(Abbreviature in the headline was corrected from "PM.")

Assad’s resignation no precondition for Syria peace talks

Source : Russia  Voice of Russia

Russia will never agree to setting President Bashar Assad’s resignation as a precondition for peace talks between the Syrian warring parties.

This came Tuesday in a statement by the head of Russian Duma’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Alexei Pushkov.

Mr. Pushkov said the Kremlin would never accept a “first Assad’s resignation, then talks” formula. “I don’t think the Syrian leadership would agree to it either,” he added.

Russia, France see more eye to eye on Syria

Russia and France see more eye to eye on Syria, Russia’s Foreign Affairs Committee chief Alexei Pushkov told reporters on Wednesday.

Addressing the 17th meeting of the Russian-French inter- parliamentary committee, Mr. Pushkov said Russia’s Western partners were beginning to see that President Assad’s resignation wasn’t a silver bullet for the Syrian crisis.

“French MPs seem to be more aware of the fact that anti-West radical Islamists are trying to capitalize on the Syrian turmoil,” the Russian foreign official said. “During parliamentary debates, they were very frank about sharing Russia’s stance,” he added.

France’s Elisabeth Guigou, who heads the National Assembly's foreign affairs committee, said it was inadmissible to allow the existing chaos in Syria to be replaced by a bigger chaos. “Political discrepancies shouldn’t stand in the way of a goal common for Russia and France, which is the end of bloodshed,” Ms. Guigou stressed.

UN vows to continue efforts to establish dialog in Syria

The UN will continue to support efforts to establish a dialogue between the government and the opposition in Syria, confrontation between which has continued since March 2011.

This was reported by an official representative of the organization, Martin Nesirky. "We need to continue to support these efforts at all levels, and do everything to stop the violence and start a dialogue," - he said, referring to the agreement of Syrian opposition leader Moaz al-Khatib to negotiate with the Syrian government.

According to Nesirky, no one suggests that it will be easy, just as “it was not easy to achieve what has already been achieved".

Earlier, the opposition rejected any possibility of negotiations, unless it involved resignation of President Assad.