Russia condemns radicals’ attacks on peaceful Kurds in Syria: MOSCOW, August 1 (Itar-Tass) – Russia resolutely condemns attacks by radicals in Syria on the peaceful Kurdish population, deputy director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s information and press department Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.
“We consider their actions as aimed at triggering ethnic confessional enmity, undermining the unity of Syria and security of the whole region,” the diplomat said.
Moscow intends to consistently seek that “the Syrian authorities and all opposition groups, where we also see the Supreme Council of the Syrian Kurds, assume common commitments at the international conference on Syria that is underway, to liquidate or expel from Syria all terrorist and extremist organizations connected with Al Qaeda,” Zakharova noted.
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VOR: Russian FM calling for Syrian Kurds’ participation in Geneva-2 talks
That’s according to an official statement published on the ministry’s website today.
Syrian Kurds’ desire to take part in the Geneva-2 Conference separately is not separatism but willingness to live in a united country, the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Moscow “understands Syrian Kurds’ position which confirms their willingness to live in a united, sovereign, democratic country where there is no place for a racial split or ethnic, religious, language discrimination, rather than their separatist intentions”.
Meanwhile, Syria will take part in the Geneva-2 Conference without any preliminary conditions, Ahmad Asi al-Jarba, the president of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, said.
The new opposition leader also added “it’s necessary to set time limits for negotiations with Assad regime representatives in order to avoid protractions”, the Lebanese al-Akhbar newspaper reports.
Al-Jarba also called on the Syrian government to release detainees because “such steps are necessary as they convince the Syrian people of the usefulness of talks”.
Being ready to negotiate without any preliminary conditions with Syrian leaders, “whose hands are not blood-stained”, al-Jarba reiterated the Syrian National Coalition demanded that the West and their Arab sponsors provide them with weapons to protect the civilian population.
“Talks in Geneva should end with the creation of transitional government with large powers which will take control of security forces and the Syrian army,” al-Jarba underscored.
Syrian crisis: still a long way to Geneva-2 despite diplomatic efforts
Hyperactivity was observed in the lines of the Syrian crisis – both military and diplomatic – all week. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry had several phone conversations to discuss the preparation for the expected Geneva conference on Syria. The bustle reached its peak on the 26th of July when New York became the site of an informal meeting of 15 UN Security Council member-states with the Syrian opposition represented by Ahmed Jarba, chairman of the Syrian National Coalition.
Vitaly Churkin, permanent representative of the Russian Federation at the United Nations, cautiously reported after the meeting that the delegation of the opposition is prepared to take part in the second conference in Geneva aimed at the settlement of the situation in Syria. This does not mean that the problem of convening the Geneva-2 conference has been solved. However, it is being considered.
The main obstacle for the conference is the opposition’s preliminary conditions. In New York the opposition demanded again that the country’s current President Bashar al-Assad should be expelled from the Interim Government planned to set up in Syria. The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces will be prepared to participate in the Geneva-2 conference as soon as al-Assad steps down.
However, the Syrian National Coalition’s consent to start talks has not been formally confirmed yet. This is what Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on the subject at a press-conference in Moscow the other day:
“The new leadership of the National Coalition declares that they would not go to Geneva before they reinforce their footing on Syrian territory and the Syrian government announces that it is going to Geneva to sign an ‘act of capitulation’. These very serious preliminary conditions run counter to both the Geneva Communique and our agreements with John Kerry in the framework of the joint Russian-US initiative”.
Last week the Pentagon for the first time published the details of several versions of military interference in the civil war in Syria. These details were outlined in an open letter to the Senate sent by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey. He declared that all military options have already been submitted to the president.
Among them are arms deliveries to Syrian militants, air attacks against the government troops, introduction of a no-fly zone over Syria, setting up buffer strips along the Syrian border on Turkey and Jordan, and finally, sending US Special Operations Forces to capture chemical weapons.
Meanwhile, in Syria the anti-government forces are trying to draw the Kurdish population into the conflict. Until now Syrian Kurds maintained neutrality but last week extremists began fighting against Kurdish home guards in the north-east of the country. Groups associated with al-Qaeda captured over 200 Kurdish women, children and old people as hostages to be used as a live shield. Kurdish cities were looted and set on fire.
Bashar al-Assad’s government granted Kurds such large-scale autonomy that they will fight against anyone for that, President of the Russian Institute of Religion and Politics Alexander Ignatenkosays:
“Quite possibly these hostilities will move to Turkish territory because Turkey provides foreign non-Syrian militants with hide-outs and grounds for combat training. Their arms deliveries are also carried out via Turkey. Turkey started a very risky game after it was involved in the Syrian conflict. This is like people living in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry characterised Syrian militants’ actions against the peaceful population as ‘bloody provocation’. Moscow is convinced that international terrorism stands behind the atrocities in the Kurdish districts in Syria. Their main aim is to aggravate interethnic relations, ruin the country and make it a breeding-ground for international terrorism.Read more: http://english.ruvr.ru/news/2013_07_30/Russian-FM-calling-for-Syrian-Kurds-participation-in-Geneva-2-talks-4250/
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Syrian Observatory for Human Rights:Final death toll for Friday 2/8/2013: Approximately 130 people killed in Syria. The dead: 44 civilians (including 7 children and 4 women), 28 rebels, 8 unidentified rebels, 5 non-Syrian rebels, 1 YPG fighter, 13 al-Nusra and ISIS fighters, 4 National Defence forces, 21 regular soldiers.
By province: Reef Dimashq (5 rebels, 11 civilians). Der’a (6 rebels, 7 civilians). Damascus (1 rebel, 3 civilians). Aleppo (3 rebels, 2 civilians). Homs (3 rebels, 10 civilians). Idlib (9 rebels, 3 civilians). Deir Ezzour (1 rebel, 4 civilians). Raqqah (2 civilians). Hama (2 civilians).
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2 defected soldiers killed by clashes in Reef Idlib.
8 unidentified rebels and 5 non-Syrian rebels killed by clashes, suicide car-bomb attacks, and targeted bombardment throughout Syria.
4 members of the National Defence Forces killed by clashes in Homs, Hama and Reef Dimashq.
13 al-Nusra Front and ISIS fighters were killed by clashes with the YPG in Reef al-Raqqah and Hasakah.
1 YPG fighter was killed fighting the ISIS and its allies.
21 regular soldiers killed: 5 Homs, 5 Aleppo, 1 Deir Ezzour, 6 Damascus and Reef Dimashq, 2 Idlib, 2 Der’a.
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Reports that 8 civilians were killed. 6 from Damascus tortured to death in regime prisons. 2 children killed by bombardment in Reef Dimashq and Aleppo.
SOHR documented the death of 4 rebels and 5 civilians killed in previous days by clashes (Damascus, Deir Ezzour, north Reef Aleppo) and bombardment (Reef Dimashq, Reef Aleppo)
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Father Paolo detained by the ISIS in Raqqah city:
Raqqah province: The SOHR has been informed that Jesuit Father Paolo Dall’Oglio is still disappeared since monday after going to the ISIS base, which is in the governor’s building in Raqqah city, to meet the ISIS emir of Raqqah. Father Paolo has informed activists of his visit to the Islamic State’s base and has requested that they not do anything until 3 days pass after the beginning of the meeting. On Monday night activists protested outside the ISIS base, a fighter from the ISIS then told them that Paoplo was with them “as a guest”.
We at the Syrian Observatory call for the immediate release of Father Paolo Dall’Oglio, we hold the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham fully responsible for any harm that Father Paolo receives.
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Aleppo province: The village of Ebeid was bombarded by the airforce. the area surrounding the Mennegh military airport was hit by the airforce heavy machine-guns, no reports of losses. Parts of al-Sfeira city was bombarded, material damage reported. In aleppo city clashes continue between regime and rebel forces in the Bani Zeid neighbourhood, regime forces are bombarding parts of the neighbourhood. The al-Mashhad neighbourhood was bombarded by regime forces. Rebels bombarded the Bab al-Faraj area with several mortars, targeting regime positions. Clashes took place by the Aleppo Central Prison earlier today, between the ISIS, al-Nusra and several allied rebel battalions against regime forces, it came after a man detonated himself by the outer wall of the prison this morning. Regime forces bombarded the area around the prison.
Aleppo province: The village of Ebeid was bombarded by the airforce. the area surrounding the Mennegh military airport was hit by the airforce heavy machine-guns, no reports of losses. Parts of al-Sfeira city was bombarded, material damage reported. In aleppo city clashes continue between regime and rebel forces in the Bani Zeid neighbourhood, regime forces are bombarding parts of the neighbourhood. The al-Mashhad neighbourhood was bombarded by regime forces. Rebels bombarded the Bab al-Faraj area with several mortars, targeting regime positions. Clashes took place by the Aleppo Central Prison earlier today, between the ISIS, al-Nusra and several allied rebel battalions against regime forces, it came after a man detonated himself by the outer wall of the prison this morning. Regime forces bombarded the area around the prison.
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Hasakah province: 12 fighters from al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq were killed by the YPG in the clashes that began overnight clashes in the villages between the cities of Jel Agha (Jawadiya) and Karki Laki (Ma’abda) when the ISIS and its allies attacked some of the villages. No reports of YPG losses. Clashes also took place on the edges of Ras al-Ein (Serekaniyeh) city after ISIS and allied attack on the city, clashes are reportedly ongoing.
Reuters: U.N. rights chief calls for investigation into Syria massacre
GENEVA – U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay said on Friday she wanted an independent investigation into an apparent massacre carried out by Syrian opposition forces in the town of Khan al-Assal.
“Based on the analysis by my team to date, we believe armed opposition groups in one incident – documented by a video – executed at least 30 individuals, the majority of whom appeared to be soldiers,” she said in a statement issued by her office.
Syrian state media have accused insurgents of killing 123 people, mainly civilians, during a rebel offensive in Aleppo province late last month.
A group calling itself the Supporters of the Islamic Caliphate posted a video on YouTube of around 30 bodies of young men piled up against a wall. It said they were militiamen who had supported President Bashar al-Assad.Over 100,000 people have died in Syria’s civil war. In the early months of the conflict Assad’s forces were blamed for the documented human rights abuses, but the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria now says both sides have committed atrocities.
“Opposition forces should not think they are immune from prosecution. They must adhere to their responsibilities under international law,” Pillay said.
Pillay’s office said its team in the region was continuing to investigate the circumstances and scope of the killings, and it had information from a reliable source that opposition fighters were still holding government officers and soldiers captured in Khan al-Assal.
The town is one of three sites due to be visited by another group of U.N. investigators, who are trying to find the truth about allegations that chemical weapons have been used in the conflict.
(Reporting by Tom Miles; editing by Andrew Roche)
Syrian Kurds take fragile steps towards autonomy
CEYLANPINAR, Turkey – Looking back over the border at the Syrian hometown he fled, Adil is circumspect when he sees a Kurdish flag hoisted over its low-rise, breeze block buildings.
The 33-year-old Kurd has seen victors come and go and it is far too soon to celebrate.
“First there was Bashar al-Assad and there was oppression, then came the rebel Free Syrian Army and it was little better, and now the Kurds have taken control,” he said.“We’re undecided on what they will be like. We’ll have to wait and see. But whoever is in control is not important as long as there is security and justice. That’s all we want.”
Kurdish militias have sought to consolidate their grip in northern Syria after exploiting the chaos of the country’s civil war over the past year by seizing control of districts as President Bashar al-Assad’s forces focused elsewhere.
Their emerging self-rule is starting to echo the autonomy of Kurds in neighbouring north Iraq, and highlights Syria’s slow fragmentation into a Kurdish north-east, mainly government-held areas around Damascus, Homs and the Mediterranean, and a rebel swathe leading from Aleppo along the Euphrates Valley to Iraq.
Ras al-Ain, a border town abutting Ceylanpinar in Turkey and an ethnic mix of Arabs, Kurds and others, has been a focus of the struggle for months, with Kurdish militias fighting for control against Arab rebel fighters from the al Qaeda-linked hardline Sunni Islamist al-Nusra Front.
Two weeks ago, fighters allied to the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the strongest local Kurdish group with its well-armed and effective militias, captured the town from Nusra fighters.
Days later, the PYD’s leader Saleh Muslim announced it would set up an independent council to run Kurdish areas of Syria until the war ends.
The Kurdish Supreme Committee, a newly-formed umbrella group for Kurdish parties in Syria including the PYD, has flown its flag over the town but its hold is fragile.
Nusra fighters have regrouped in Tel Halaf, a settlement four kilometres to the west, from where they have been shelling and firing in an attempt to recoup their losses, although the Kurds appear to be holding their ground.
The clashes have reduced to the odd burst of gunfire, but days of heavy exchanges last month sent stray shells and bullets crashing onto the Turkish side. Three Turkish citizens were killed, including a 15-year-old boy by a bullet to the head.
The Turkish military, which has been returning fire into Syria when stray bullets or mortars land inside Turkey, said it had fired several shots across the frontier at Ceylanpinar on Thursday night after a bullet from Syria hit the town.
Daily clashes have continued between Kurds and Islamists across Syria’s north and in the early hours of Friday morning, PYD fighters killed 12 Islamist militants in the northeastern province of Hassake which borders Turkey and Iraq, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.
HISTORY OF REPRESSION
Divided between Iran, Turkey, Iraq and Syria, the Kurdish people are often described as the largest ethnic group without a state of their own. Syria’s Kurds, the country’s largest ethnic minority, suffered government repression for decades.
Under Assad and his father before him, they were forbidden from learning their own language, frequently evicted from their land and even denied full Syrian citizenship. Their region is home to a chunk of Syria’s estimated 2.5 billion barrels of crude oil reserves, but Kurds enjoyed little benefit.
For now, Kurdish and Arab refugees who have fled Ras al-Ain mainly speak of their longing to return to homes in peace, regardless of who is in charge.
Khadija, a 29-year-old Arab, who fled the town with her family twice in the past eight months, said seven of her male relatives were executed by Arab rebel fighters because they had wanted to escape recruitment.
“We want a state to be formed by whoever. Who it is doesn’t matter. Security is our only concern. Let us just be able to go to our homes – Arabs, Kurds or whoever,” she said.
Across the border, powerful neighbour Turkey is treading a careful line.
Kurdish assertiveness has posed a quandary for Ankara as it tries to make peace on its own soil with militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a rebel group which has fought for greater Kurdish autonomy in Turkey for three decades.
Turkey fears a power grab by Kurdish militias in Syria may embolden the PKK militants. But it is also uneasy about swathes of territory along its border falling to the Nusra Front, which has merged with the Iraq branch of al Qaeda.
In a rare statement last month, the Turkish military said it had fired on PYD fighters, describing them as “separatist terrorists”, after bullets from Ras al-Ain hit inside Turkey. Previous statements had not specified targets of return fire.
But there are also signs Turkey is willing to work with the PYD and other Kurdish groups if it can be sure they will remain resolutely opposed to Assad, vow not to seek autonomy through violence or before Syria’s wider conflict is resolved, and that they pose no threat to Turkey’s own security.
“We have no problem with their aspirations … What we do not want from any group is that they use this situation opportunistically to impose their will by force,” a senior Turkish government official said, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject.
OLIVE BRANCH
The message was delivered directly to Saleh Muslim last week, when Turkey invited him to Istanbul for talks with its intelligence agency after the capture of Ras al-Ain brought what the government official described as a new sense of urgency.
“We understood him and he understood us,” the official said.
“He came out satisfied that our position towards Kurds is clear and he also clarified his position … that they are by no means after autonomy to be established now.”
The Turkish government has been discussing reopening border crossings to Kurdish areas in Syria to help the flow of humanitarian aid, including one at Ceylanpinar closed amid uncertainty over who controlled the other side.
“Turkey has really come to a point where it realises what needs to be done. At the least it has seen that treating the Kurds like an enemy and supporting groups like Nusra is not good for Turkey,” said Ismail Arslan, Ceylanpinar mayor from Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP).
For Adil and his five children, the day when the Kurdish area of Syria is safe – in any hands – seems far away.
“I’m not hopeful,” he said. “Syria will not be fixed even in 10 years. I could be here that long. I will not go back until this war is over.”
(Additional reporting by Nick Tattersall in Ankara; Writing by Jonathon Burch; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Peter Graff)
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The Russian Foreign Ministry is calling for Syrian Kurds’ participation in the Geneva-2 conference.
That’s according to an official statement published on the ministry’s website today.
Syrian Kurds’ desire to take part in the Geneva-2 Conference separately is not separatism but willingness to live in a united country, the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Moscow “understands Syrian Kurds’ position which confirms their willingness to live in a united, sovereign, democratic country where there is no place for a racial split or ethnic, religious, language discrimination, rather than their separatist intentions”.
Meanwhile, Syria will take part in the Geneva-2 Conference without any preliminary conditions, Ahmad Asi al-Jarba, the president of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, said.
The new opposition leader also added “it’s necessary to set time limits for negotiations with Assad regime representatives in order to avoid protractions”, the Lebanese al-Akhbar newspaper reports.
Al-Jarba also called on the Syrian government to release detainees because “such steps are necessary as they convince the Syrian people of the usefulness of talks”.
Being ready to negotiate without any preliminary conditions with Syrian leaders, “whose hands are not blood-stained”, al-Jarba reiterated the Syrian National Coalition demanded that the West and their Arab sponsors provide them with weapons to protect the civilian population.
“Talks in Geneva should end with the creation of transitional government with large powers which will take control of security forces and the Syrian army,” al-Jarba underscored.
Syrian crisis: still a long way to Geneva-2 despite diplomatic efforts
Hyperactivity was observed in the lines of the Syrian crisis – both military and diplomatic – all week. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry had several phone conversations to discuss the preparation for the expected Geneva conference on Syria. The bustle reached its peak on the 26th of July when New York became the site of an informal meeting of 15 UN Security Council member-states with the Syrian opposition represented by Ahmed Jarba, chairman of the Syrian National Coalition.
Vitaly Churkin, permanent representative of the Russian Federation at the United Nations, cautiously reported after the meeting that the delegation of the opposition is prepared to take part in the second conference in Geneva aimed at the settlement of the situation in Syria. This does not mean that the problem of convening the Geneva-2 conference has been solved. However, it is being considered.
The main obstacle for the conference is the opposition’s preliminary conditions. In New York the opposition demanded again that the country’s current President Bashar al-Assad should be expelled from the Interim Government planned to set up in Syria. The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces will be prepared to participate in the Geneva-2 conference as soon as al-Assad steps down.
However, the Syrian National Coalition’s consent to start talks has not been formally confirmed yet. This is what Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on the subject at a press-conference in Moscow the other day:
“The new leadership of the National Coalition declares that they would not go to Geneva before they reinforce their footing on Syrian territory and the Syrian government announces that it is going to Geneva to sign an ‘act of capitulation’. These very serious preliminary conditions run counter to both the Geneva Communique and our agreements with John Kerry in the framework of the joint Russian-US initiative”.
Last week the Pentagon for the first time published the details of several versions of military interference in the civil war in Syria. These details were outlined in an open letter to the Senate sent by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey. He declared that all military options have already been submitted to the president.
Among them are arms deliveries to Syrian militants, air attacks against the government troops, introduction of a no-fly zone over Syria, setting up buffer strips along the Syrian border on Turkey and Jordan, and finally, sending US Special Operations Forces to capture chemical weapons.
Meanwhile, in Syria the anti-government forces are trying to draw the Kurdish population into the conflict. Until now Syrian Kurds maintained neutrality but last week extremists began fighting against Kurdish home guards in the north-east of the country. Groups associated with al-Qaeda captured over 200 Kurdish women, children and old people as hostages to be used as a live shield. Kurdish cities were looted and set on fire.
Bashar al-Assad’s government granted Kurds such large-scale autonomy that they will fight against anyone for that, President of the Russian Institute of Religion and Politics Alexander Ignatenkosays:
“Quite possibly these hostilities will move to Turkish territory because Turkey provides foreign non-Syrian militants with hide-outs and grounds for combat training. Their arms deliveries are also carried out via Turkey. Turkey started a very risky game after it was involved in the Syrian conflict. This is like people living in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry characterised Syrian militants’ actions against the peaceful population as ‘bloody provocation’. Moscow is convinced that international terrorism stands behind the atrocities in the Kurdish districts in Syria. Their main aim is to aggravate interethnic relations, ruin the country and make it a breeding-ground for international terrorism.
Moscow urges partners to give principled assessment of terrorists’ crimes in Syria – Russian FM
Moscow urges partners at the international arena to give a principled assessment of terrorists’ crimes in Syria, Voice of Russia correspondent reports.
“Once again we call on our partners at the international arena, as well as all groups of the Syrian opposition to give a principled assessment of the crimes of terrorists in Syria, while preventing manifestations of the “double standards” policy that would allow the terrorist international to realize their criminal aims in this country,” accroding to the Russian Foreign Ministry statement in connection with a terrorist act in the suburbs of Damascus on July 25.
Russia hopes UN Security Council meeting on Syria advances preparation on Geneva-2
An informal meeting between members of the UN Security Council and representatives of the Syrian opposition may not be considered its official recognition, the Vocie of Russia correspondent Igor Siletsky quoted the Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin as saying.
“This is an absolutely informal event, not even that of the UN Security Council. The fact that the meeting will take place may not be considered a step towards recognising the National Coalition [for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces] in some official capacity,” Churkin said at the UN Headquarters on Thursday, July 25.
“The purpose of the meeting is to set the National Coalition and its leadership for preparing Geneva-2,” Churkin added.
Russia has agreed to take part in the meeting in order to “advance the preparation of the conference in Geneva through informal discussion.”
The meeting has been called by Great Britain for this coming Friday, July 26.
On Tuesday, July 23, UK Permanent Representative to the UN Lyall Grant announced that the Security Council members would hold an informal meeting with a delegation of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces to be led by its new President Ahmad Jarba.
He said one of the purposes of the meeting would be preparing a second international conference in Geneva, commonly referred to as Geneva-2.
Grant also expressed hopes that Russia is to participate in UN Security Council meeting.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier, however, that the first statements by the Syrian national coalition’s new leader show no signs of commitment to political settlement in the country.
“Nevertheless, Moscow is ready to establish contact with the new leadership of the coalition in the interests of facilitating an end to the devastating conflict in Syria and the suffering of the friendly Syrian people through broad inter-Syrian dialogue with full respect for national sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of Syria and without foreign interference,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.
“At this point, in our opinion, which as far as we know is shared by our American partners, a priority task in facilitating a peaceful political settlement in Syria is to consolidate different groups of the Syrian opposition on the basis of the Geneva Communique of June 30, 2012,” the spokesperson said.
“In this respect, the new leadership of the National Coalition is expected to state clearly and unambiguously its readiness to send its representatives to the peaceful conference in Geneva in order to join other influential opposition groups at the negotiations with the Syrian government without preconditions and start a joint search for concrete parameters for political settlement in Syria in accordance with the Geneva Community,” Lukashevich said.
Moscow expects the Syrian opposition to agree to attend the international conference on Syria without preconditions, Russian president’s special representative for the Middle East and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said.
At their talks in Moscow on May 7, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of StateJohn Kerryagreed to hold an international conference on the basis of the Geneva Communique of June 30, 2012, in order to try to overcome the crisis in Syria.
Lavrov and Kerry said that their countries would encourage both the Syrian government and opposition groups to look for a political solution.
However, the Syrian opposition has so far not confirmed its participation in the conference, which remains the main obstacle to holding it.
Voice of Russia, TASS
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