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Contact Group on Syria to include permanent members of UN Security Council

The five permanent member states of the United Nations Security Council also need to take part in discussions of Syria’s future

YEKATERINBURG, December 4. /TASS/. France, Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom and China as permanent members of the UN Security Council have agreed that they will be the only members of the Contact Group for Syria for the time being, French Ambassador to Russia Sylvie Bermann told TASS on Monday.

"We have decided that for now, our five countries will work togehter," she said, adding that new members could join the group in the future.

"Russia has supported this proposal [concerning the initial members of the group - TASS]," the French ambassador noted.

According to Bermann, the five permanent member states of the United Nations Security Council also need to take part in discussions of Syria’s future. "We are committed to the UN-sponsored Geneva process, but there is a need for the permanent member states of the United Nations Security Council to join the process from time to time because if a decision is made, it should be approved by the UN," she stressed.

The initiative to establish an international contact group was put forward by French President Emmanuel Macron at a meeting with his US counterpart Donald Trump in mid-July. French Ambassador to Russia Sylvie Bermann said in an interview with TASS that the core group should include the five permanent member states of the UN Security Council.

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