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Russia will join the mediating efforts for the settlement of the crisis in Syria

At the beginning of next week Syrian presidential adviser for political and information issues Buthaina Shaaban will arrive in Russia for talks

MOSCOW, September 9 (Itar-Tass) —— Russia will join the mediating efforts for the settlement of the crisis in Syria, Kommersant writes. At the beginning of next week Syrian presidential adviser for political and information issues Buthaina Shaaban will arrive in Russia for talks. “This visit will be made within Russian efforts to assist the stabilization in Syria and around the country,” spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexander Lukashevich said on Thursday.

The experts believe that Damascus is primarily interested in establishing the inter-Syrian dialogue. Even Iran, a Syrian only ally, criticized a tough suppression of the opposition protests.

Russia as a permanent member of the UN Security Council can protect Syria from international sanctions, which the United States and its allies insist to impose. Still Moscow supports Bashar Assad. “We still criticize possible sanctions against Syria,” a source in the Kremlin recalled on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Syrian opposition does not lose hope to change the position of the Russian leadership. The delegation of the opposition headed by the chief of the Syrian national human rights organization Ammar Qurabi arrived in Moscow late on Thursday evening. Though the Russian Foreign Ministry will not meet with the oppositionists, Assad’s opponents will have negotiations with the chairman of the Federation Council Committee for International Affairs Mikhail Margelov. Buthaina Shaaban and Ammar Qurabi also do not plan to meet in Moscow.

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