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RF calls Syrian authorities, opposition for peaceful settlement

Russia very clearly urged all groups of Syrian opposition rejecting violence as a means to reach political goals

MOSCOW, November 15 (Itar-Tass) — The Russian Foreign Ministry calls the Syrian authorities and the opposition for a constructive dialogue and a peaceful settlement of the crisis, ministry sources said after a meeting of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov with a delegation of Syrian opposition on Tuesday.

“Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accepted a delegation of Syrian opposition abroad led by Syrian intellectual Burhan Ghalioun living in France on a permanent basis. The delegation is in Moscow at the invitation of the Russian society for solidarity and cooperation with the peoples of Asia and Africa,” the ministry report said.

“During the conversation with the minister and following consultations that Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov held with oppositionists, Russia very clearly urged all groups of Syrian opposition rejecting violence as a means to reach political goals to immediately join the initiative by the League of Arab States on the settlement of the crisis in Syria through the launch of a dialogue between the Syrian authorities and the opposition,” the report said.

“The Russian position favoring a constructive approach to the settlement of problems facing the Syrian Arab Republic, reforms in the interests of all Syrian people as well as an inadmissibility of foreign interference by force in the Syrian affairs has been brought to the attention of Syrian oppositionists,” the ministry sources said.

According to the ministry report, “Burhan Ghalioun on the whole agreed with this approach based on the above mentioned initiative of the League of Arab States”.