Russia: US undermining Syria integrity
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that in Syria the United States has been acting unilaterally in a dangerous way, undermining the country’s integrity.
“The Americans, in my opinion,… are trying to act by dangerous unilateral steps. And by the way, these steps look more and more like part of a line for creating a certain quasistate on a large part of the Syrian territory — on the eastern bank of the Euphrates and up to the Iraqi border,” Lavrov told reporters in Moscow, Sputnik reported.
As he explained, this “is more and more like a line to undermine the territorial integrity of Syria.”
Lavrov expressed hope that the United Nations would ensure transparency of the constitutional process in Syria.
“I really hope that the UN, which is responsible for the resolution 2254 implementation, which is responsible for creating an inclusive Syrian dialogue… in its actions will fully take into account the need to stop any steps by external players that lead to undermining the principles of settlement enshrined in the resolution,” the minister stressed.
He stated that, from Russia’s point of view, the US seems to be planning to stay in Syria for a long time, maybe even forever.
“Now we hear completely different explanations from our US partners regarding their presence in Syria — they say that this presence should be maintained not only until military tasks are accomplished, but also until there is a stable political process that should end in a transition of power which will be acceptable for all — meaning for the United States — which is regime change. In general, we have a suspicion…. that the United States wants to stay there for a long time, if not forever,” Lavrov said.
As the top diplomat specified, Moscow had been having a lot of questions to Washington about their recent actions in Syria.
“In general and especially lately, we have been having a lot of questions to the actions of the United States in Syria. These actions are carried out without an invitation,” Lavrov said, when asked to comment on the US Defense Department’s alleged plans to allocate $550 million to fund Syrian opposition and create border security forces.
The minister revealed reasons behind Daesh’s defeat in Syria.
“It is now clear that ISIL [Daesh] as a caliphate — this project failed. And it did not take place primarily thanks to the actions of the Syrian Army with the support of the Russian Aerospace Forces. But we do not dismiss a certain contribution by the American coalition to this achievement,” Lavrov said.