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UN envoy for Syria to visit Russia next week

UN, June 27. /TASS/. UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen informed that he would visit Russia next week and head over to Damascus in the near future.

"Both Turkey - which I visited earlier in the month - and the Russian Federation - which I will visit next week - have reassured me that they remain committed to the September 2018 Memorandum of Understanding [on the de-escalation zones] and have set up a working group," he said.

"But we must see this assurance reflected on the ground. I strongly reiterate the Secretary-General’s appeal to Russia and Turkey to stabilize the situation without delay," Pedersen continued.

"I look forward to consulting the Government in Damascus in the near future and to consulting the leadership of the Syrian Negotiations Commission," the diplomat concluded.

Earlier, Pedersen stated that the Syrian constitutional committee might be formed in the summer of 2019. The decision to set up the Constitutional Committee was made at the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi on January 30, 2018. It is expected to include delegates from the Syrian government, the opposition and the civil society.

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Syria United Nations Turkey

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