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West’s attitude to refugees in Syria is wrong, biased — Lavrov

Syria’s constitutional committee could have been launched but for West’s hindrance, Russia's top diplomat said

MOSCOW, September 2. /TASS/. Russia believes that the Western countries’ refusal to participate in the restoration of Syria’s infrastructure that would promote the refugees’ return to their homes is wrong and biased, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told an audience of students and teachers of the MGIMO university and the Foreign Ministry’s Diplomatic Academy on the occasion of the beginning of a new academic year.

"As far as the solution of concrete problems for promoting the return of refugees to their homes is concerned, the main stumbling block is the insufficient attention of most Western countries to the issue of creating conditions for the refugees and displaced persons locally. In fact, only we, our Indian counterparts and to a certain extent Chinese partners take care of this," Lavrov said.

"The West is categorically against investing in the creation of normal living conditions that would let Syrian citizens return to their homes. They argue they are unable to start doing anything along these lines as long as there is no clarity regarding the political process. As soon as the political process begins and gains momentum, they promise to give thought to whether they should invest in providing the infrastructure for those who had left their homes," Lavrov said. "The Western countries deliberately leave their criteria of progress rather hazy to have an opportunity to indulge in further manipulations. We believe that this kind of approach is wrong and biased."

Specifically, Lavrov said the focus of attention should be not on building factories and other industrial facilities, but on giving civilians a "roof overhead, running water and basic medical and educational services."

"This fits in well with the criteria of humanitarian assistance, which is not prohibited under any European Union resolutions," Lavrov said.

He also pointed out that on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, which is not controlled by Damascus, the United States has been trying to play the "Kurdish card." The Americans "not only hinder investment by other countries, but encourage such investment."

"Behind this we see an intention to call in question the territorial integrity of Syria. Such attitude rooted in outright double standards by no means contributes to implementing the UN Security Council’s resolution," he said.

Syria's constitutional committee

Syria’s constitutional committee might have been launched at the end of last year but for the West’s attempts to frustrate its work, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.

"If our Western colleagues were more guided by the interests of settling the crisis, the constitutional committee would have been launched at the end of last year," Lavrov continued.

But, in his words, despite the deliberately created obstacles, the Syrian ceasefire guarantor nations (Russia, Iran and Turkey) are sparing no effort to reach a compromise on the composition of the constitutional committee that would be acceptable for all.

"Literally, just a couple of names are yet to be agreed. Frankly speaking, it is ridiculous to quibble over one or two names out of 150 in a situation when decision-making within such committee, and this has already been agreed, would be based on the principle of consensus or, in case such a consensus is impossible, on the majority of 75% of votes. It means that any member of this constitutional committee, representing either the government, the opposition or civil society, will be able to block undesired decisions. It is not serious to quibble over a couple of names in a situation like this," Lavrov stressed.