MOSCOW, September 19 (Itar-Tass) - Speaker of the Russian Federation Council upper house of parliament, Valentina Matviyenko, has urged all "sober-minded forces" across the world - including mass media - to take all measures to rule out discussion of attacks on Syria and foreign military interference in the conflict.
Matviyenko was addressing the 15th General Assembly of the Organization of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA), which opened in Moscow on Thursday.
The speaker said that having discussed ways to solve the Syrian crisis, the recent G20 summit reversed the course of events. “In the long run, Russia’s initiative was supported, including by our partners, the United States,” Matviyenko said.
“Russia and the US reached an agreement to place Syrian chemical weapons under international control, which staved off a threat of military interference,” she added.
“And we are seeing now that more and more countries back the idea that there is no other alternative but to seek a political and diplomatic settlement of the Syrian crisis, to strictly comply with rules of international law, and also believe that no other countries can make any decision in bypassing UN resolutions,” she said.
Matviyenko expressed concern that agreements reached at the G20 summit “may come under threat because of the position of some countries that are interested in foreign interference in Syria”.
“New provocations, attempts to disrupt these agreements are possible,” she said.
“We hope for support of all sober-minded forces, including mass media, that play an important role in shaping public opinion, so that measures be taken to rule out any possible discussion of strikes or foreign military interference while political and diplomatic settlement of the Syrian crisis continues,” she said.