Moscow expects no ceasefire violations by Syrian government forces
The Russian Foreign Ministry however has "far more doubts about the opposition"
MOSCOW, September 15. /TASS/. Russia is certain the Syrian authorities observe the cessation of hostilities regime, Russian presidential representative for the Middle East and Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, said on the BBC.
"We do not anticipate any violations of these agreements by the Syrian government, the more so, since they said they accept them and will comply with them. We have far more doubts about the opposition," Bogdanov said, adding that some oppositional groups, including Ahrar al-Sham, had not accepted the achieved arrangements.
"It will be a test for all. When some say this is a test for Russia and the Syrian authorities we say this is a test for absolutely all participants in these processes," he said.
Bogdanov believes that the United States should deal with the opposition, which, in contrast to the Syrian government, says in public it will not respect these agreements and resist their implementation.
At the end of last week Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry met in Geneva to agree a five-document package expected to establish a regime of the cessation of hostilities in Syria’s five-year-long war and lay the basis for a political process. These arrangements include separation of the opposition from terrorists, joint US and Russian air strikes against terrorist forces, procedures of response to truce violations and the delivery of humanitarian aid to millions of civilians.