MONTREUX, January 22. /ITAR-TASS/. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem has thanked Russia on behalf of the Syrian people for giving support to Syria.

“Russia has acted as a true friend of Syria, it supported the basic principles of sovereignty, enshrined in the UN Charter,” Muallem said at the opening of the Geneva II international conference on Syrian conflict resolution at the town of Montreux, Switzerland.