Lavrov hopes Paris meeting on Syria to be focused on inclusive settlement

MOSCOW, October 27. /TASS/. Moscow hopes that the meeting on Syria in Paris will focus on inclusive conflict settlement and says that closed groups of external players on Syria are unviable, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.

"There have been attempts to create such a closed club of outside players without the participation of other key countries that influence the situation "on the ground" in Syria. It is probably easier to make such theoretic schemes as they are clear and close to one, but as these schemes are not accepted by the others states that have different stances and approaches, such schemes are artificial and not viable," Lavrov said.

"And the scheme that can really give a lasting and long-term result that would serve the interests of stability in Syria requires very patient, many-hours-long, even many day-long negotiations. But these efforts — aimed at overcoming contradictions in the stances and working out consensus solutions — will make it possible to launch the inter-Syrian negotiating process, they will be much more effective and will not turn into something shown on TV today and forgotten tomorrow," the minister said.

"So I hope very much that if that meeting in Paris [on Syria without Russia’s participation] is really held today, it is held with a view to the formation of inclusive formats that will promote the involvement of all without exception," he said, "both in terms of the inter-Syrian dialogue and in terms of its external support. We will be guided by this position. And our partners — even those who had doubts about the possibility of launching such an inclusive process — are beginning to understand that doubt it or not, but there is no other way of the Syrian crisis settlement."

On Monday, French Foreign Ministry reported that France planned to hold an international meeting on the situation in Syria bringing together representatives of different foreign countries but without Russia. "We are working on organising a new meeting with the participation of regional partners on Tuesday in Paris," ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said. The concrete format and schedule had not been agreed yet, he added. The full list of participants had not been announced as well, but the French diplomat made it clear that Russia was not invited to the meeting. "[French Foreign Minister] Laurent Fabius is working on political settlement of the crisis in Syria," Nadal said. "Over the last days, he talked with his foreign colleagues several times, in particular, from US, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, as well as with UN secretary general," he added.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced that Paris wants to host a meeting in this format last Friday. "I invited our German, British, Saudi, American friends to Paris next week, as well as several others, to try to move forward," Fabius said adding that the Russian side will not be invited to the meeting. "We will have other meetings where we will work with Russia," he noted.

It is necessary to step up efforts on settlement in Syria on the basis of the Geneva communique, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told journalists last week after talks with his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh. "Our common position is that it is important to step up efforts in launching a political process of Syrian settlement on the basis of the Geneva communique," the foreign minister said. The Geneva communique "envisages the start of large-scale negotiations between the government and all representatives of the Syrian opposition — both internal and external — with the support of international players, Lavrov added.