Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has made clear that Iran should not be excluded from an international conference on Syria – putting it on a collision course with the US over the stalled peace process.
A conference, which some have likened to the Dayton accords that put an end to the three year long civil war in Bosnia in 1995, may be held later this month.
“We want this event to be effective. In order to be effective all the sides with any influence on the sides in the Syrian conflicts should be represented there. Iran is one such country,” Mr Lavrov said.
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, appeared to reject a role for Iran earlier this week, when she said: “It's a little hard to imagine inviting a country that is stage-managing Assad regime’s assault on its people.”
Iran is a key Russian ally in the Mideast and is one of the principal backers of Syrian President Bashar al Assad.
Mr Lavrov said that the Russian general idea of holding a conference “was not rejected” by the American side during talks Friday with Mrs Clinton’s special adviser on Syria Fred Hof.
According to one senior foreign policy figure who requested anonymity, such a conference could be held as early as late June following a planned meeting between US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Mexico next weekend. The tentative location, he said, would be Geneva.
Both the US and Russia agree that the peace plan negotiated by former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, which has been in effect since April, has had little result. No ceasefire has been observed and Syrian paramilitaries and army continue to attack civilians, according to western governments.
Mr Lavrov spoke after reports that 17 people, had been killed by shelling in the Syrian town of Deraa, where the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad erupted 15 months ago.
Russia however, lays the majority of the blame for the fighting on the Syrian opposition, which it blamed for a recent massacre in the town of Houla that left over 100 dead.
Mr Lavrov sounded one or two conciliatory notes during a Saturday press conference in Moscow following Mr Hof’s trip. He said that Russia would sign no new contracts for the supply of weapons with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al- Assad, and that Russia’s weapons supplies were only in fulfilment of already existing contracts, according to Interfax news agency.
However, he dashed rumours that have been circulating for days that Russia has begun to loosen its support of Mr Assad and might even be willing to facilitate his removal from power as part of a revised peace plan. The Annan plan, he admitted was “stalled”, but said there was no alternative.
Russia has long argued that Mr Assad’s exit could only come at the end of a peace process, “according to the will of the Syrian people” rather than as a pre condition.
While Russia has repeatedly said it would not be against a “Yemen style solution” to the conflict in Syria – the president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, stepped aside and ceded power to his vice-president in Feb of this year – Lavrov said it was incorrect to make an analogy to Syria. Mr Saleh’s removal was “not a precondition” during Yemen peace talks, Lavrov said Saturday.
On Mr Assad’s stepping down, Lavrov said, “If the Syrian people agree to this, then we will only be happy to support this outcome. But to impose conditions on a dialogue from outside we consider to be unacceptable for reasons of principle. It will not lead to a sustainable solution [of the conflict].”
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2012. You may share using our article tools.
Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.
A conference, which some have likened to the Dayton accords that put an end to the three year long civil war in Bosnia in 1995, may be held later this month.
“We want this event to be effective. In order to be effective all the sides with any influence on the sides in the Syrian conflicts should be represented there. Iran is one such country,” Mr Lavrov said.
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, appeared to reject a role for Iran earlier this week, when she said: “It's a little hard to imagine inviting a country that is stage-managing Assad regime’s assault on its people.”
Iran is a key Russian ally in the Mideast and is one of the principal backers of Syrian President Bashar al Assad.
Mr Lavrov said that the Russian general idea of holding a conference “was not rejected” by the American side during talks Friday with Mrs Clinton’s special adviser on Syria Fred Hof.
According to one senior foreign policy figure who requested anonymity, such a conference could be held as early as late June following a planned meeting between US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Mexico next weekend. The tentative location, he said, would be Geneva.
Both the US and Russia agree that the peace plan negotiated by former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, which has been in effect since April, has had little result. No ceasefire has been observed and Syrian paramilitaries and army continue to attack civilians, according to western governments.
Mr Lavrov spoke after reports that 17 people, had been killed by shelling in the Syrian town of Deraa, where the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad erupted 15 months ago.
Russia however, lays the majority of the blame for the fighting on the Syrian opposition, which it blamed for a recent massacre in the town of Houla that left over 100 dead.
Mr Lavrov sounded one or two conciliatory notes during a Saturday press conference in Moscow following Mr Hof’s trip. He said that Russia would sign no new contracts for the supply of weapons with the regime of Syrian President Bashar al- Assad, and that Russia’s weapons supplies were only in fulfilment of already existing contracts, according to Interfax news agency.
However, he dashed rumours that have been circulating for days that Russia has begun to loosen its support of Mr Assad and might even be willing to facilitate his removal from power as part of a revised peace plan. The Annan plan, he admitted was “stalled”, but said there was no alternative.
Russia has long argued that Mr Assad’s exit could only come at the end of a peace process, “according to the will of the Syrian people” rather than as a pre condition.
While Russia has repeatedly said it would not be against a “Yemen style solution” to the conflict in Syria – the president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, stepped aside and ceded power to his vice-president in Feb of this year – Lavrov said it was incorrect to make an analogy to Syria. Mr Saleh’s removal was “not a precondition” during Yemen peace talks, Lavrov said Saturday.
On Mr Assad’s stepping down, Lavrov said, “If the Syrian people agree to this, then we will only be happy to support this outcome. But to impose conditions on a dialogue from outside we consider to be unacceptable for reasons of principle. It will not lead to a sustainable solution [of the conflict].”
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2012. You may share using our article tools.
Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.