Russia warns against external interference in Syrian crisis

The Russian Federation warned on Wednesday against external interference in Syria, condemning "careless actions" regarding the current situation in the troubled country. This condemnation came in a speech by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, during the ministerial meeting of the Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia, which kicked off on Wednesday in Astana, the Kazakh capital. In his speech, Lavrov said "it is unacceptable to commit such disregardful actions regarding the current events in Syria." "We must prevent external interference in the Syrian crisis and exert all pressure in order to push the parties concerned to find a peaceful way out of the crisis there," he added. Lavrov considered the Syrian crisis "a part of the ongoing dramatic events in the Middle East," noting that these events reflect negatively on the stability in many countries in the region, because they usually stir up ethnic and religious confrontations. In addition, Lavrov recommended not to be invoked by the Arab Spring in order to pre-empt the efforts to resume Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, pointing to a decline in the efforts achieving settlements. Furthermore, Russian Foreign Minister demanded the International Quartet Committee to intensify its efforts to resume the Israeli-Palestinian peace process on the basis of international legitimacy. On the other hand, Lavrov stressed the need to resort to peaceful diplomatic plans in order to address the Iranian and North Korean nuclear crisis, asserting that there is no military solution to end these problems.