UNITED NATIONS, April 13 (Itar-Tass) —— Russia welcomed the end of violence in Syria and called for an early arrival of international observers in the country.
“We are inspired that violence was stopped in Syria,” Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin told reporters on Thursday after international envoy Kofi Annan reported to the UN Security Council about his efforts to resolve the crisis.
Churkin called on the conflicting parties “to act reasonably to the maximum” and preserve the truce.
He expressed hope the six-item plan of Annan will be fulfilled in full and all parties that can influence the situation in Syria “will use it to preserve peace in Syria and launch political dialogue to take the country out of the crisis.”
Churkin said Russia supports an early deployment of an observer mission in Syria and said the UN Security Council was likely to adopt a resolution on Friday on the deployment of the advanced group of monitors in Syria.
“It is extremely important to send observers on site so that they can register any violation of the current truce. Russia believes the observers have to arrive in Syria as soon as possible,” Churkin said adding Russia will send one observer to the mission from the peacekeeping UN force on the Golan Heights. “It will be a practical Russian contribution to the mission.”
The ambassador called on the Syrian opposition “to formulate the approach to political dialogue.”
“Not only the Russian, but also other delegations in the UN Security Council spoke about the necessity of a political process which cannot proceed without political dialogue,” he said and expressed hope Annan ”will soon make the opposition leaders agree on a dialogue with the government of Syria.”
“So far it did not happen,” he regretted.