German foreign minister :Syria's Assad to face pressure as Russian troops withdraw

The withdrawal of Moscow's forces from Syria, announced on Monday, will increase the pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assad to negotiate a "political transition", Germany's foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said, according to Daily Sabah.

"If the announcement of a withdrawal of Russian troops materializes, this increases the pressure on Assad to finally negotiate in a serious way in Geneva a political transition which maintains the stability of the Syrian state and the interests of all populations," Steinmeier said in a statement.

A temporary ceasefire between Assad's forces and opponents in the country introduced on February 27 has largely held, but it does not cover the Daesh and Nusra terrorist organizations.

Russia's decision to begin withdrawing from Syria will help Moscow's push to reach a political settlement, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations said Monday.

"Our diplomacy has received marching orders to intensify our efforts to achieve a political settlement in Syria," Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on Syria.

"We are in the political mode now, in the cessation of hostilities mode."

President Vladimir Putin announced the withdrawal that will begin on Tuesday just as a new round of peace talks got under way in Geneva to try to end the five-year war.

"We think that our forces have operated very effectively," said Churkin.

"Our military presence will continue to be there. It will be directed mostly at making sure that the ceasefire, the cessation of hostilities is maintained," he added. 
Source : MENA