Russia expresses concern over Turkish action in Syria

MOSCOW (Russia): Russian foreign office (FO), in a statement on Saturday, expressed concern over reports that Turkey began using its army in the area of Afrin in the northwest of Syria and quoted, “The Turkish general Staff announced that the Turkish military shelled Syrian Kurds’ positions in response to provocative shelling by the militants of the democratic union, a Syrian Kurdish party.”

According to detail, Russian FO mentioned that this information was received with concern in Moscow. We are closely monitoring the development of the situation.

After the defeat of the military political stronghold of international terrorism in the form of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS - a terrorist group) and the withdrawal of a considerable part of Russian troops from Syria, the major objective of the remaining Russian military in that country is currently to ensure the ceasefire in the de-escalation zones.

Russia holds a consistent stand on the search for solutions in Syria based on preserving Syria’s territorial integrity, respect for its sovereignty and pursuing a long-term political settlement in accordance with the United Nations (UN) security council resolution 2254 and the agreements on de-escalation zones reached within the Astana process.

In this connection we urge the opposing sides to show mutual restraint.