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Diplomat slams Trump’s statement on Golan Heights as irresponsible

Zakharova recalled that the world community should see its main task in stabilizing the Middle East, and not in triggering new conflicts

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova Sergei Karpukhin/TASS

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova

© Sergei Karpukhin/TASS

MOSCOW, March 22. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has described as irresponsible US President Donald Trump’s statement Washington should recognize Israel’s full sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

"Such statements being made today are irresponsible in our opinion. They are capable of causing negative effects [on the process of Middle East settlement]," Zakharova said on the Rossiya-24 round-the-clock television channel on Friday. "They may cause still greater destabilization in the region."

Read also

Trump’s statement on Golan Heights may destabilize Middle East, warns Kremlin

Zakharova recalled that the world community should see its main task in stabilizing the Middle East, and not in triggering new wars and exacerbating the already existing conflicts.

Earlier, Trump tweeted that the US should recognize Israel’s full sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

This plateau, which belonged to Syria since 1944 were seized by Israel during the six-day war in 1967. In 1981, the Israeli parliament passed a law to unilaterally declare sovereignty over the Golan Heights. The UN Security Council declared the annexation null and void in its Resolution 497 of December 17, 1981.

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