DAMASCUS, September 18 (Itar-Tass) - The friendship between the Russian and Syrian people is “unshakable” and “is not affected by short-lived political changes, winds and storms,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.
“Russian-Syrian relations are those of friendship and mutual affection, they have deep roots and a good future. We interact on many issues,” Ryabkov, who is in Syria for consultations, said at a news conference at the Russian Embassy in Damascus on Wednesday, September 18.
“We want to work in close contact with the government of Syria and I stress with opposition circles in order to find a way that would satisfy everyone in this beautiful country, a way to a better future,” he said.
Ryabkov noted that relations between Russia and Syria had passed “the test of time and crisis.”
“Friendship between Russia and Syria will remain the linchpin of our relations,” he added.
Ryabkov believes that “there can only be a political” solution to the Syrian crisis and it should be based on international law.
“The position of Russia remains unchanged: we reject the threat of force against Syria and believe that the right of peoples to determine their own future must be respected,” he said.
Ryabkov also said that the sources providing Moscow with information on Syria were independent from Russia. “We do not hide the fact that we have a wide variety of evidence and information gathered from various sources that are not connected with each other and are not dependent on Russia in any way, we summarise it and pass it on to the United Nations. We hope that this information will be studied thoroughly and impartially,” he said.
The diplomat pointed out that the materials presented by U.N. experts did not provide grounds for making far-reaching conclusions. “We have situations where there are no sufficient and solid reasons for making far-reaching conclusions and generalisations in the materials that are prepared by U.N. experts and circulated by the U.N. Secretariat,” Ryabkov said.