Russian Foreign Ministry :Necessity of Solving Crisis in Syria Politically,
Imposing Sanctions on It Rejected
Jan 26, 2012
http://www.sana.sy/eng/22/2012/01/26/396724.htm

MOSCOW, (SANA) – Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed support
to continuing the efforts of the Arab League (AL) which aim at finding means
to overcome the crisis in Syria.

During a phone call with AL Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi on Wednesday,
Lavrov underlined the importance of the AL decision on extending the mandate
of the Arab observers who play a helpful role in achieving stability.

In a statement issued on Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that
during the phone call, the two sides underlined the importance of quickly
launching an internal dialogue between the Syrian authorities and the
opposition on all the issues listed on the national agenda to guarantee
performing effective political reforms and to ensure a peaceful democratic
development in the country.

The statement added that al-Arabi stressed that the AL leadership shares
Russia's viewpoint on the necessity of finding a peaceful settlement in
Syria based on stopping all forms of violence, speeding up holding a
dialogue among all the Syrians and rejecting the foreign military
interference in it.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister: Russia Won't Support New Western Draft
Resolution Calling for Imposing Sanctions against Syria

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said that Russia won't
support any new Western draft resolution at the UN Security Council that
calls for imposing sanctions against Syria.

"We know that the French prepared a draft resolution in New York to the
Security Council on the Syrian issue, and we still have red lines which we
can't ignore when discussing any draft resolution regarding Syria which are
represented in rejecting all forms related to imposing sanctions and to the
calls upon all the countries to take unilateral measures against Syria,"
Gatilov added.

" We cannot support any proposal or draft resolution which aims at
documenting unilateral sanctions that have been already taken against Syria
without consultations with Russia or other Security Council member states,"
said Gatilov.

He stressed that the Russian draft resolution is still on table and that
Russia is ready to consult with the Security Council member states with
regard to all the sides of the situation in Syria.

Gatilov reiterated his country's insistence on that the draft resolution
should include an important provision about rejecting the military
intervention in Syria's affairs and a call upon the foreign players to
contribute to achieving a peaceful political settlement to the situation in
Syria.

He added that the French proposals included some positive sides particularly
those which are related to the support and the continuity of the AL observer
mission and the call upon all the sides to halt violence and to launch a
national dialogue, in addition to the call upon the other countries to work
with the Syrian opposition to convince it to start the reconciliation
process.

"We are ready to continue the consultations and to forge a united stance,
and we hope that our colleagues will take our stances into consideration to
be able through the joint efforts to set a draft resolution that could form
a realistic basis to achieve a political solution in Syria," Gatilov said.

Ukashević: Western Media Wrongly Interpreted Margelov' Statements about
Syria

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Ukashević said the Western mass
media have wrongly interpreted the statements of the Russian President's
Special Representative for Africa Mikhail Margelov on Syria.

In a statement on Thursday, Ukashević said that the Russian attitude towards
Syria had not changed and that the task of diplomacy is to work to resolve
crises and not to aggravate them.

" Peaceful political means to resolve the Syrian crisis had not been
exhausted yet." Ukashević said.

R. Raslan/ R. al-Jazaeri /