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Conflict in Syria

Russia to support proposal by UN envoy for Syrian conflict settlement

De Mistura proposed to set up workgroups involving officials of the Syrian government and the opposition

Russian ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin EPA/ANDREW GOMBERT

Russian ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin

© EPA/ANDREW GOMBERT

UNITED NATIONS, July 29. /TASS/. Russia supports proposals by the special envoy of the UN Secretary General for Syrian peace settlement, Staffan de Mistura, regarding the ways of implementation of the 2012 Geneva communique, the Russian ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin said on Wednesday.

"We support him," he said upon the end of a Security Council meeting.

In the course of the meeting, De Mistura proposed to set up workgroups involving officials of the Syrian government and the opposition that would concentrate on discussions of implementation of separately taken provisions of the Geneva communique that was adopted in June 2012.

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The envoy set out four main guidelines for future consultations defence of the population, inclusive of a lifting of the blockade of urban areas and release of prisoners, the political process and the constitutional reform, the problems of the military sphere and security inclusive of struggle with terrorism, the declaration of truces and the setting up of unified Armed Forces, and last but not least, rehabilitation of the country, founding and development of public institutes.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said work on De Mistura's proposals was to begin in the immediate future, quite possibly in September. He urged members of the Security Council to support the envoy's proposal and spoke about readiness to convene an international conference that would endorse the results of consultations in the new format.

Diplomats from other member-states spoke encouragingly of the proposals, too. In part, Chinese ambassador Liu Jieyi expressed the hope members of the Security Council would find it possible to offer due support for the initiative.

This support is crucial for pushing the process forward, he told TASS.

US ambassador Samantha Power said the council was more united on the issue this time than it would usually be.

Syrian ambassador Bashar Jaafari said the government in Damascus had not formulated its position on the proposals by the time the Security Council began its meeting.

He said the government officials would study them in detail and would ask to clarify them and the official answer would be given only after that.

The Syrian side supports all the efforts aiming to put an end to bloodshed in the country, Jaafari said.

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Foreign policy Syria United Nations

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