Dear Editor,
At midnight, on February 27, 2016 the ceasefire took effect in Syria. After five years of brutal civil war involving terrorist groupings this development can be viewed as a historic event; the agreement was reached with the assistance of Russia and the United States.
Just an hour before the ceasefire start-up the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing the joint declaration of Russia and the US on the cessation of hostilities in Syria.
Fighting IS, Jabhat al-Nusra and other terrorist groups will continue as stabilization in Syria is deemed impossible without the elimination of the terrorist threat and putting an end to attempts to use terrorists as a weapon in unwarranted geopolitical goals.
The resolution provides new conditions for a Syrian political settlement under UN auspices while the representatives of all Syrian political and ethno-religious compositions should be its main actors.
The Syrian army and seventeen armed groups have already declared that they will comply with the requirements of the ceasefire. As reported by the Russian Defence Ministry, the fighting has stopped already in 34 localities. To assist peacemaking efforts the Centre for Reconciliation of Conflicting Parties has been established. Its goals include helping to conclude agreements on the ceasefire, the maintenance of a reconciliation regime in contact with armed groupings leaders, ceasefire observance control, and humanitarian aid delivery.
Russia has already started to provide supplies to the population in need, including people in remote areas to solve the humanitarian crisis. The release of detainees including women and children will be another step to improve the humanitarian situation.
This ceasefire is the best opportunity we imagine the Syrian people will have and have had over the last five years, and is the only hope for something related to peace, as the facts will tell, the UN Special Envoy Steffan de Mistura noted.
All Security Council members declared their support for the exercise of a political process by the Syrians assisted by the UN, and they welcomed the ceasefire as a step towards enduring peace.
The Council commended the joint efforts of Russia and the US in reaching the understanding on the conditions of the ceasefire, and expressed satisfaction with the commitment by the Syrian government and opposition forces to observe it.
Russia has been consistently adhering to a political settlement in Syria. It has launched the International Syrian Support Group and advocates the development of a comprehensive strategy for stability and socio-economic recovery in the regions of the Middle East. The response to the challenges that the region is confronting can only be collective.
Among the latest examples of productive cooperation between Moscow and Washington to surmount Syrian challenges are the recently adopted UN Security Council Resolution on Road Map for Peace Process; and adopting the UN Security Council Resolution of 2013 imposing a timeline for the destruction of Syrian chemical weapons and production facilities. Let’s hope that we can fight the shared threats together. “Russia is open to the development of broad cooperation with everyone who is willing to reciprocate”, emphasized Foreign Minister S Lavrov in his interview with Italian magazine Limes on February 2, 2016.
Yours faithfully,
Aleksei Illiuviev
Press Attaché
Russian Embassy in Guyana
