Putin: 'Russia Will Not Support Any Sanctions Against Syria'

Russia will not support any new sanctions against Syria, President Vladimir Putin said.

BISHKEK (Kyrgyzstan), (Sputnik) — Sanctions against Syria would hinder ongoing peace negotiations and undermine confidence, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday, signaling that Moscow would not support new UN Security Council measures against the Syrian government.

"As for sanctions, I think that it is totally inappropriate in relation to the Syrian leadership because it would not help the negotiations process, but would only hurt or undermine confidence in the course of this negotiations process," Putin said.

He asserted that "Russia will not support any new sanctions against Syria."

"We cannot but rejoice that the Astana process proceeded and ended very positively, the undisputed result of which is the consolidation of the ceasefire and the establishment of a mechanism to monitor the ceasefire," Putin said.

He added that "it would be impossible to continue the Geneva talks" without two rounds of negotiations in Astana.

 

In late December, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a Russian-Turkish resolution on a ceasefire regime in Syria, as well as on holding political talks between the Syrian government and opposition groups in Astana, Kazakhstan in January 2017. A day earlier, a nationwide ceasefire between Syrian government troops and several opposition factions came into force. Russia and Turkey serve as guarantors of the deal that paves the way for negotiations between the warring parties.

Since 2011, Syria has been engulfed in a civil war, with government forces fighting against numerous opposition and terrorist groups, including al-Nusra Front and Daesh, banned in a range of countries, including Russia.

Moscow has been conducting a counter-terrorist campaign in Syria since September 30, 2015, at President Bashar Assad's request.