Moscow disagrees with UN Ban's remark on Security Council role in settling Syria crisis (Part 2)

MOSCOW. Sept 8 (Interfax) - The ongoing crisis in Syria remains in the focus of the UN Security Council's attention, and Russia is urging all its partners in the Council to return to the positions declared in the Geneva meeting communique, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"Moscow has taken note of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's remarks on September 5 that 'the Council's paralysis does the Syrian people harm. It also damages its own credibility', which he made at an informal General Assembly debate on the 2005 U.N. concept of "responsibility to protect" civilians threatened by their own governments, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted on its website.

"The crisis in Syria continues to remain in the focus of the UN Security Council's attention," the Foreign Ministry said. "The secretary-general is well aware of this, since Ban Ki-moon, his deputies and Lakhdar Brahimi, who was recently appointed UN/Arab League special representative for Syria, are actively involved in looking for ways to settle this conflict politically and are working in close contact with the UN Security Council and based on its decisions," it said.

Moscow believes that the steps that have been taken by the international community to peacefully settle the crisis in Syria open the path toward stopping violence in the country and starting a comprehensive political dialogue. "The matter implies UN Security Council resolutions 2042 and 2043, the six-item plan by former UN/Arab League envoy for Syria Kofi Annan, which still remains relevant today, and the final communique of the Action Group ministerial meeting on Syria in Geneva of June 30, which formulated concrete parameters for ending violence and starting a negotiating process in Syria," the ministry said.

"However, these decisions are unfortunately not being put into practice now. Russia is doing all it can for their implementation," it said.

"We are urging all parties involved in this conflict and other UN Security Council members to fully honor their commitments stipulated by these documents," it said.

"The crisis can be overcome only through joint efforts aimed at making the conflicting parties stop any violence in Syria as soon as possible and providing conditions for a political process to be started by Syrians themselves," the Foreign Ministry said.

"In this connection, the return of all Security Council partners to the positions stipulated by the Geneva final communique would be the most significant step forward to consolidating the international community's approaches to settling the crisis in Syria. There is still time for this to be done. Russia is prepared for such work," the ministry said.

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