MOSCOW, November 28. /TASS/. Moscow may consider participating in the Syrian Constitutional Committee in Geneva if the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen is able to resolve logistical issues, for which counter steps by the West are needed, Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentyev told TASS in an interview.
He said the Swiss government guaranteed that they wouldn’t prevent Russian officials from coming to the country to take part in international meetings.
"We still believe that Geneva is not a suitable platform [for the Syrian Constitutional Committee] for certain reasons, although [the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy for Syria Geir] Pedersen keeps insisting and asking for a return to Geneva. He worked quite closely with Bern, with the Swiss authorities, so that they lift all the discriminatory measures imposed on Russian officials who come to participate in various international forums in Switzerland," Lavrentyev said. "Such guarantees were received by him, and the Swiss also gave them to us. This, of course, is a step that we see as quite positive, but nevertheless there are logistical problems."
"Getting there (to Switzerland - TASS) is very difficult, given the restrictions on the flights of Russian aircraft, so we, in principle, still believe that it makes more sense to choose a more suitable platform [for meetings of the Syrian Constitutional Committee] that would suit the two Syrian parties - the Syrian opposition and the government - and, accordingly, all participants who assist in the constitutional reform [of Syria]. If Mr. Pedersen is able to solve these logistical problems, I think that our leadership will consider holding another session and, perhaps, agree to come to Geneva. But this requires reciprocal steps from the West," Lavrentyev said.
Earlier, Lavrentyev named the capitals of the UAE, Oman and Bahrain - Abu Dhabi, Muscat and Manama - as possible alternatives for holding the committee meetings. When asked what option looks like the most probable alternative, if need be, Lavrentyev said, "They remain [as options]." He said "these countries, in principle, suit Damascus, but don’t suit the Syrian opposition."
The Syrian Constitutional Committee, which was set up in accordance with the resolution that was adopted by the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi on January 31, 2018, consists of 150 people (Damascus, the opposition and civil society each represented by 50 delegates). The smaller group of the committee consists of 45 people (15 delegates from each of the three segments). The committee is designed to hammer out recommendations for the country’s constitution, which will be followed by a national election under UN auspices.
Following the results of the 19th international meeting on Syria in the Astana format, Lavrentyev said that Moscow expects to hold the 9th meeting of the Constitutional Committee of Syria in mid-January.