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Conflict in Syria

Lavrov calls for destroying masked terrorists who violate ceasefire in Syria

The diplomat noted that the state system in Syria has been preserved and a catastrophe has been avoided

© Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

MOSCOW, April 20 /TASS/. Terrorists who want to pass themselves off as opposition members and violate the ceasefire in Syria should be destroyed, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday.

"I hope that our interaction on the anti-terror front within the Syria Support Group, which is still developing incrementally despite difficulties, will start bringing results," Lavrov said.

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"Those who are trying to thwart the peaceful efforts will not prevail. A positive trend in Syria is obvious," the Russian foreign minister added.

"However, some terrorist groups are trying to hide themselves in the opposition ranks. We should see to excluding them from the ceasefire regime and subjecting them to destruction," Lavrov stressed.

"Many humanitarian problems of the Syrian population have been effectively solved alongside the truce. A political process has also been launched. Here, we also have those who want to derail [the political process] but we are going to resist that firmly," the Russian foreign minister said.

According to him, the contacts with Western countries and regional states have shown that they have understanding, which is growing stronger, of the need to avert the destruction of prospects for the Syrian political settlement because of someone’s geopolitical whims.

Catastrophe avoided in Syria

The diplomat noted that the state system in Syria has been preserved and a catastrophe has been avoided.

"The state system and state institutions in Syria, unlike in Libya, have been preserved," Lavrov said. "Russia made its own contribution to this, when, upon the request of legitimate Syrian government, it sent its Aerospace Forces to counter a terrorist threat, destroy terrorists that were ready to seize Damascus. It would have been a complete catastrophe but it has been avoided for now," he added.

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