Ambassador to Russia: thanks to Russia, speculation about Assad’s fate left by the wayside

Ambassador to Russia: thanks to Russia, speculation about Assad’s fate left by the wayside


MOSCOW, January 29. Thanks to the efforts of Russia speculation about the fate of Syrian President Bashar al Assad on the backburner in the background of the fight against terrorism. This was stated by Russia’s permanent representative to the EU Vladimir Chizhov on the TV channel “Russia 24”.

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“At the official level, this issue is like gone by the wayside, he said. – We, first of all, the Russian side managed to convince the other participants, including members of the International support group in Syria to focus not on this but on the suppression of terrorist groups and encouraging inter-Syrian political process”.

“The negotiations that began in Geneva, will go, will be not only an indicator of readiness for the Syrians themselves, finally, to start talking with each other, but the degree of involvement of external factors, including European, in these processes”, – said Chizhov.

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Author: Irina MOKHOVA
Mokhova
Irina

On the issue of closing the Turkish-Syrian border

The contraction of the Turkish troops on the border with Syria, disguised as the desire to close the border, it is not, Chizhov said.

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He noted that the EU and the US gradually agree with Russia and come to understand the need of closing the Turkish-Syrian border, as “across that border one way continues flow of fighters, and the other way is that the illegal oil, back the militants in European countries”.

“It would be naive to think that Turkey is amassing troops to (the Turkish-Syrian) border, to cut off,” said Chizhov.

According to him, the relations between the EU and Turkey, “a fairly complex issue,” negotiation processes in many areas related to the Turkey drags.

In particular, the issue of Turkey’s accession to the EU. “On the other hand, Turkey is in no hurry to create centres for migrants, so they are not sailed on in a frail boat to the Greek Islands. The European Union, promising the Turks, neither more nor less, 3 billion euros, is in no hurry to fork”, he said.