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Conflict in Syria

Russia backs UN proposal on Syria's constitution

Russia is not forcing its own draft Syrian constitution on other negotiation delegates, since it was meant as a subject for discussion, Russia's Foreign Ministry said earlier

© Valeriy Sharifulin/TASS

KAZAN, May 19. /TASS/. Moscow supports the proposal of Staffan de Mistura, the UN’s special envoy for Syria, on establishing a consultative mechanism on Syria’s constitution, Russian Special Presidential Representative for the Middle East and Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Friday.

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"Of course, we back this," Bogdanov told TASS on the sidelines of the 9th International Economic Summit "Russia — Islamic World" in Kazan.

"We support any advancement in any part of this large-scale work (for achieving settlement in Syria)," he said.

Earlier this week, Staffan de Mistura put forward an initiative to set up a consultative mechanism on the Syrian constitutional and legal issues. It is expected that there will be separate meetings between representatives of the special envoy’s office and experts from the government and opposition delegations.

The proposed mechanism will deal with technical aspects of the issues related to drafting Syria’s new constitution.

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Foreign policy Syrian conflict

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Here are the key statements, made during the meeting

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