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Russia, Iraq say there is no alternative to political settlement of Syrian crisis

A source in the Russian Foreign Ministry said the meeting has been held in New York on the sidelines of the 68th U.N. General Assembly

MOSCOW, September 25 (Itar-Tass) - Russia and Iraq declare that there is no alternative to the political settlement of the crisis in Syria.

This common view was expressed during the conversation between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Iraqi Vice President Khodair al-Khozaei and Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari on Wednesday.

A source in the Russian Foreign Ministry said the meeting has been held in New York on the sidelines of the 68th U.N. General Assembly.

Discussing the situation in Syria, the parties expressed the common view that “there is no alternative to the political settlement to the crisis in Syria.”

“In this context, the Iraqi side highly assessed Russia’s principled stance in favour of rallying international efforts to convene Geneva II and eliminating Syria’s chemical weapons,” the foreign ministry said.

The parties discussed practical steps to strengthen bilateral relations in various areas. They emphasized the significance of the upcoming meeting in Baghdad of the inter-governmental Russian-Iraqi commission on trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation.

The sides also exchanged views on a number of pressing international and regional issues with a focus on the need for resolving burning problems in the Middle East and North Africa by the Arab peoples themselves without outside interference through constructive dialogue, the ministry said.