MOSCOW, September 1 (Itar-Tass) —— Russia opposes double standards with regard to armed conflicts, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in his traditional report before students and teachers of the Moscow Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) here on Thursday.
“Processes in the Middle East and Northern Africa have been in the focus of attention this year,” Lavrov said. “The striving of the Arab nations for a better life through the renovation of their countries became their motive force. Russia supports those aspirations, aimed at finding a democratic model. The role of the ‘outside players’ is very important in this connection. The desire to gain geopolitical advantages for themselves should not become dominant in this respect.”
“There should be no room for the double standards, based on the current political situation or objective preferences of this or that country,” Lavrov continued. “It is difficult to understand, why in Yemen, where a serious armed conflict is going on, all members of the world community are trying quite reasonably to help establish a compromise between the authorities and the opposition, while as far as Syria is concerned, a number of influential countries insistently urge the opposition to boycott proposals of a national dialogue and to step up confrontation, refusing even to discuss the reforms proposed by President Bashar Assad, which are certainly overdue, but still quite real.”