UNITED NATIONS, November 29. /TASS/. It is up to the Syrians to decide on the modalities of further meetings of the Syrian Constitutional Committee and this decision must be made without any pressure from the outside, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said on Tuesday.
"On the political track of the Syrian settlement, we insist that the political process be conducted by the Syrians with the assistance of the United Nations within the framework set by UN Security Council resolution 2254. We welcome the efforts of UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen toward the resumption of the work of the Constitutional Committee. But we insist that key decisions on the modalities of further rounds of the intra-Syrian dialogue within the committee’s framework are to be made by the Syrians without external interference," he said at a meeting of the UN Security Council.
According to the Russian diplomat, Russia supports Pedersen’s meetings with both Damascus and representatives of the Syrian opposition.
"Together with our Astana format partners - Iran and Turkey - we held the 19th international meeting on Syria in Astana on November 22-23, which yielded a joint statement. We are determined to continue contributing to efforts toward lasting normalization in Syria," he stressed.