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Middle East and North Africa

Chance for peace in Syria cannot be lost, Russia's Foreign Minister says

Lavrov: attempts to settle crises outside UN framework undermine stability

Photo ITAR-TASS/ Sergei Karpov

Photo ITAR-TASS/ Sergei Karpov

ASTANA, September 12 (Itar-Tass) - There is a chance to ensure peace in Syria and it cannot be lost, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

“We’ll facilitate the political settlement on the basis of the Geneva communique under which Syrians themselves should decide on their fate,” Lavrov said.

Addressing students of the Eurasian University on Thursday, the minister said, “We’re taking active diplomatic efforts in order to prevent the military invention, which would lead to further destabilisation in Syria and in the whole region.”

“We lauded the Syrian leaders’ consent on our initiative to place chemical weapons under international control, then to eliminate them and join the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons,” he said.

“Tomorrow we’ll discuss this issue with [U.S. Secretary of State] John Kerry in Geneva,” Lavrov added.

Attempts at settling crises outside the UN framework are conducive only to undermining stability, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs added.

"Such attempts lead only to upsetting world stability," the Russian Minister said. Problems must be "solved collectively", he pointed out.

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