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Russian medical workers, lawmakers to visit Syria in months

Members of the parliamentary group will prepare a humanitarian cargo for the children whose parents lost their lives during the conflict

MOSCOW, January 13. /TASS/. A delegation of Russian medical workers will visit Syria together with a group of lawmakers in charge of ties with Syria’s parliament to provide medical assistance to those affected by the armed conflict in that country, a source in the parliamentary group informed TASS.

"The lawmakers invited a group of medical workers, representatives of Russia’s Ministry of Health who will share experience with their Syrian counterparts and, possibly, operate some patients who are in grave condition," the source said.

He noted that it is planned to discuss the possibility of arranging for the treatment of wounded Syrian children in Russia.

Members of the parliamentary group and the Combat Brotherhood all-Russia veterans’ organization (Dmitry Sablin, the coordinator of the parliamentary group, is the organization’s first deputy chairman) will prepare a humanitarian cargo for the children whose parents lost their lives during the conflict. "It will include baby food, school supplies and medications," the source said.

The parliamentary group is currently made up of 9 members of the United Russia political party, two lawmakers from the Russian Communist Party and one MP from the Liberal Democratic Party.

"We’ve made a decision that we will try to visit Syria twice a year and to host a Syrian delegation here twice a year, too. Our first trip to Syria is due in months," Sablin said.

The legislators will participate in political consultations with the members of the Syrian People’s Council, elected in April 2016.

"First and foremost there will be meetings with parliament members, civil activists and leaders of all traditional religions in Syria," Sablin said.

He pointed out that any settlement of the conflict had not only the military aspect, but political and economic ones as well.

"We will express our ideas regarding the anti-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus. We may share our experience and listen to the opinion of our Syrian counterparts," Sablin said.

The Russian group is already working on humanitarian projects it hoped to present to the Syrian counterparts.

"We will discuss what guidelines should enjoy priority - medical or social," he said.

At the end of last year a group of members of Russia’s Federation Council (upper house of parliament) under the head of the committee for international affairs, Konstantin Kosachyov, and European parliament members visited Syria for a meeting with President Bashar Assad and the Hmeymim airbase.