Moscow-Sana
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed today that the countries that deliberately boycotted the international conference on the return of Syrian refugees, which was held in Damascus last week, committed a grave mistake.
Sputnik quoted Lavrov as saying that "the countries that sent their delegations to attend the conference confirmed their interest in resolving the crisis in Syria without any attempts to cause geopolitical tricks, but the countries that took a deliberate course to ignore it and did their best to force their allies not to send delegations to this important event committed a very serious sin." .
The closing statement of the International Conference on the Return of Syrian Refugees, which was held in Damascus on the 11th and 12th of this month, affirmed the firm adherence to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Syria and rejected all attempts to undermine its sovereignty, stressing Syria's readiness not only to return its citizens, but to continue all efforts to provide Decent living conditions for them.
On the other hand, Lavrov considered that the security of Europe has become a hostage to narrow-minded policies imposed from behind the ocean, calling for the establishment of an indivisible peace and security structure in Europe.
Lavrov said in a video message to the organizers and participants of the Forum (Potsdam Meeting) that “the current tension is costly to the peoples of Europe, whose security has become hostage to the narrow policy imposed from behind the ocean, but we are convinced that the opportunity to establish an equitable and indivisible peace and security structure in Eurasia and the Euro-Atlantic region does not. They persist, especially as we all face common challenges and threats across borders, including terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the Coronavirus pandemic. ”
Lavrov stressed that dealing with these threats is achieved through cooperation on a generally accepted international legal basis and abandoning the philosophy of hegemony and control, expressing Russia's readiness to always act honestly on an equal footing to find a balance of interests.
Relations between Russia and the European Union have witnessed a decline in recent years due to the crisis in Ukraine in 2014 and the sanctions imposed by the European Union on Moscow under its pretext, in addition to the intensification of NATO (NATO) its military presence near the Russian borders, which led to further strained relations between the two parties.
On the conflict in the Nagorno Karabakh region, the Russian Foreign Minister expressed his country's hope for the participation of the United Nations structures, including the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees and the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, in solving the humanitarian problems in that region.
Lavrov noted that the International Committee of the Red Cross has been present for a long time in the region and its expertise could be useful to other organizations.
It is noteworthy that armed clashes broke out between the Armenian and Azerbaijani forces on September 27th on the line of contact in Nagorny Karabakh and the adjacent areas in the most dangerous escalation between the two parties in nearly three decades, amid mutual accusations of starting the fighting.
Last Monday, the Kremlin announced that Russian Presidents Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani Ilham Aliyev and the Prime Minister of Armenia signed a joint declaration on a ceasefire in the region.