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Russia hopes UN SC will support Brahimi’s peace initiatives for Syria

Syrian government had agreed to respect the truce during the Eid al-Adha religious festival on October 26-29

UNITED NATIONS, October 24 (Itar-Tass) — The U.N. Security Council held closed-door consultations on Syria on Wednesday, October 24, during which the Joint Special Envoy of the United Nations and the League of Arab States for the Syrian Crisis, Lakhdar Brahimi, will speak, via videoconference, about his efforts to broker a truce in that country during the Eid al-Adha religious festival.

Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said Moscow hopes that the Security Council will adopt a statement welcoming the envoy’s initiative.

“We hope that we will have a statement for the press today in support of Mr. Brahimi’s initiative from the Security Council,” Churkin said.

He stressed that intensive work had been underway towards this. At the same time, he declined to make forecasts as to how long such a truce may last if the envoy’s work process successful.

“This is a complex world with too many actors and too many destructive forces,” the diplomat added.

His colleagues in Security Council from Britain, Germany and China also hope that Brahimi’s mission will succeed.

Brahimi said at a press conference in Cairo that the Syrian government had agreed to respect the truce during the Eid al-Adha religious festival on October 26-29.

At the same time, about an hour later, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said the Syrian military command would give its final answer on the ceasefire on Thursday morning, October 25.

The opposition Free Syrian Army said it would support Brahimi’s initiative if the authorities make the first step.

Moscow also hopes the new Joint Special Envoy of the United Nations and the League of Arab States for the Syrian Crisis, Lakhdar Brahimi, will be able to add a practical dimension to the Geneva Communique’s principles.

“The opposition [in Syria] is disunited. In Geneva our Western colleagues promised to consolidate the opposition on the basis of readiness for dialogue, but this was not done. Inability of those, both in the West and in the region, who have influence on the opposition to bring it together under single command in order to understand whom to talk to is one of the main reasons for what we can see now, specifically the continuing bloodshed in Syria,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier.

“Banal as it may seem, the Geneva Communique is based on a simple consensus that has no alternative: stop the violence, begin negotiations, and agree what the communique calls ‘a transitional governing body’, the composition of which should be approved by consensus between the government and the opposition. Thos body will draft a constitution and prepare elections and it will have the full executive power until then,” the minister said.

He recalled that “Damascus supported the Geneva Communique”.

“Now it is the opposition’s turn. We hope very much that the new Joint Special Envoy of the United Nations and the League of Arab States for the Syrian Crisis, Lakhdar Brahimi, who should come to Moscow in a week’s time for consultation will try to add a practical dimension to the principles set forth in the Geneva Communique,” Lavrov said.