Post date: Aug 27, 2013 12:1:38 PM
Russian Foreign Ministry says it is 'seriously disappointed' by the postponement of The Hague meeting with U.S. on Syria.
MOSCOW, RUSSIA (AUGUST 26, 2013) (REUTERS) - Russia said on Tuesday (August 27) it regretted a decision by Washington to postpone talks on an international peace conference for Syria, underlining growing diplomatic tensions over the civil war.
The U.S. State Department said on Monday it had postponed the meeting between senior diplomats, scheduled for Wednesday in The Hague, because of "ongoing consultations" over an alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria."Washington's decision to postpone the meeting right on the eve of the agreed date was met in Moscow with serious disappointment. We need to recall that it was agreed by the Russian and U.S. heads of Foreign Offices to organise such a contact on August 9 in Washington, in order to accelerate the calling of the international peace conference for Syria in the interest of the prompt cease of any violence and beginning of the Syrian conflict resolution process. We are sure that in the current dramatic situation around Syria, which is artificially heated up by number of countries, the importance of coordinated action of Russia and the U.S. increases significantly," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a video statement published on the Foreign Ministry website.
"The attempts to get around the (United Nations) Security Council and to once again create artificial unsubstantiated pretexts for the armed interference in the region may result in new sufferings in Syria and in catastrophic consequences for other countries of the Middle East and Northern Africa. We call on our American colleagues and all members of the world community to be sensible, to strictly observe the international law and first of all the basic principles of the United Nations Charter," Lukashevich said.
The United States has served Syrian President Bashar al-Assad notice that it believes he was responsible for chemical weapons being used against civilians last week.
Russia, Assad's key ally and arms supplier, says rebel forces may have been behind the attack and has urged Washington not to use military force against Assad.
The United States and Russia, which has protected Assad at the United Nations Security Council, agreed in May to try to arrange an international conference on ending the conflict in Syria but the chances of it happening are fading.
A senior State Department official said the United States would work with Russia to reschedule Wednesday's planned meeting and that the alleged chemical weapons attack demonstrated the need for a "comprehensive and durable political solution".