Meeting with Defence
Minister Sergei Shoigu and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
Mr Shoigu and Mr
Lavrov briefed the President on work to resolve the Syrian
crisis, in particular, agreements reached between the Syrian
government and the opposition on a ceasefire
and readiness to begin peace talks.
December 29, 2016
14:20
The Kremlin, Moscow
3 of 5
Meeting with Defence
Minister Sergei Shoigu (right) and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
President of Russia
Vladimir Putin: Colleagues,
The news has just
come in that this morning, a few hours ago, an event that we not
just long since hoped for but also worked hard for has taken place.
Three documents have been signed. The first is an agreement between
the Syrian government and the armed opposition
on a ceasefire on the Syrian Arab Republic’s territory.
The second document agrees a series of measures to monitor
the ceasefire. The third document is a statement
of readiness to start peace talks on ending the Syrian
conflict.
The Russian Defence
Ministry and Foreign Ministry were in constant contact with our
partners in Damascus and other capitals and worked hard together
with our partners in Turkey.
We know that
the Russian, Turkish and Iranian foreign ministers recently held
a trilateral meeting in Moscow, at which all three countries
committed themselves to not simply monitoring but also guaranteeing
the peace process in Syria.
I would like
to hear your analysis of the events currently underway,
and we will discuss the next steps in this peace process. We
realise that the agreements reached are very fragile and require
particular attention, patience, a professional approach
to the issues, and constant contact with our partners
in the region.
Mr Shoigu, you have
the floor.
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu: Mr President, acting on your instruction,
the Defence Ministry, with Turkey acting as intermediary, spent two
months in talks with leaders of the groups that make up
the moderate Syrian opposition. These groups control the greater part
of areas in Syria’s central and northern regions not under
control of the government in Damascus. These detachments have
more than 60,000 fighters. The most influential field commanders from
seven opposition groups took part in the talks.
At the same
time, we carried out the same work with the Syrian government.
The talks made it possible for the parties to reach
a common position and sign these three basic agreements that
introduce a ceasefire, establish a monitoring regime, and set
out procedures for organising talks on a peace settlement
of the Syrian conflict.
