Moscow Denounces Istanbul Meeting, Sends Navy Destroyer to Tartous

Local Editor

Russia stressed Monday that "the "Friends of Syria" meeting in Istanbul at the weekend contradicted the objective of reaching a peaceful settlement that could end more than a year of bloodshed."

In its statement, the Russian foreign ministry considered that "the promises and intentions to deliver direct military and logistical support to the armed... opposition that were voiced in Istanbul unquestionably contradict the goals of a peaceful settlement to the civil conflict in Syria."

"Unfortunately, the meeting in Istanbul was as one-sided" as previous such gatherings," it confirmed pointing out that "the gathering list of participants did not include either the Syrian government or many of the influential groups of the Syrian political opposition."
Moscow also reaffirmed its support for Annan's initiative and said it would continue "trying to achieve an immediate ceasefire and an end to violence from all sides."

Russia abstained from attending the conference and said Monday that it had turned out to be as "one-sided as Moscow had feared."

In parallel, news agencies reported that "a Russian navy destroyer will dock at the Syrian port of Tartus in the coming days after setting out on a planned mission to the region."
"The Smetlivy guided-missile destroyer sailed for the Mediterranean from its Black Sea base of Sevastopol over the weekend and will shortly arrive at the Russian-leased port in Syria," Russian state news agency and other reports said.

Navy officials further announced that "the ship will take on new supplies of food and water before conducting planned exercises near Syria's coast."
"This will be a purely technical port call that is conducted by almost all Russian navy ships conducting exercises in the Mediterranean," a senior source in the Russian navy told Interfax.

The source said "the destroyer's crew would not be leaving the ship while it was docked."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org

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