With Iran, Turkey we counter terrorists in Syria: Lavrov

“The fact that Turkey, Russia and Iran, having not always concurring and sometimes far from concurring stances on this or that aspect of the Syrian crisis have found wisdom and willingness to settle concrete problems, has reversed the situation in Syria, and the ISIL has been practically defeated with only some isolated small groups remaining. The main target for the present moment is Jabhat al-Nusra,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday.

The Russian diplomatic chief made the remarks in Ankara at a joint presser with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.

We won’t probably see any direct linkage with the Syrian crisis in the statements made by the US side when it declares sanctions against our countries (Russia, Iran and Turkey),” he said.

“But objectively, of course we feel the wish of the West, and first of all the US but not only, to prevent the Astana process from achieving concrete results and present it as not quite successful," he said. "These attempts were seen earlier, and most likely they will continue,” the diplomat added.

He pointed out that the West and especially the US are trying to block the path of Astana to prevent the settlement of the crisis in Syria, pointing out that the imposition of sanctions on the guarantor states (Russia, Iran, and Turkey) may aim to influence the results of the talks in Astana in particular.

Lavrov said that work must be focused on reconstruction in Syria and facilitating the return of Syrian refugees to their home, stressing that the West has to encourage that.

/SR