April 12, 2013 – 19:24

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that attempts to “delegitimise” the Syrian leadership would have disastrous consequences, and hit out against those trying to “foist” such resolutions onto international organisations.

Lavrov was speaking to journalists in the western Swiss city of Neuchatel after holding talks on a range of bilateral and international issues with his Swiss counterpart Didier Burkhalter.

While admitting that it was “per se, absolutely right” that there should be no impunity over war crimes in Syria, he said some “unscrupulous” people were using this demand to prolong discussions. “The longer they are drawn out, the more deaths there will be in Syria,” he warned.

“We are now seeing attempts to thwart any chance of a peaceful settlement and to foist decisions onto international bodies aimed at delegitimising the Syrian leadership, and that cannot lead to anything good.

“This is simply stoking the flames of war, which will then go on forever. Whether intentionally or not, this will bring radicals to power in Syria and put an end to the multi-confessional and multi-ethnic nature of the Syrian state.”

He said the Geneva communique of June 2012 offered the only solution. The communique, agreed by the international Action Group for Syria, called for “an end to the violence and human rights abuses and the launch of a Syrian-led political process leading to a transition that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people and enables them independently and democratically to
determine their own future”.

Burkhalter repeated Switzerland’s view that it was important to look at the whole of the Syrian case, and not at just one of the parties involved.

Switzerland has called for all the war crimes committed to be taken to the International Criminal Court.

READ MORE HERE ON SWISSINFO.CH: http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/Russian_minister_outlines_position_on_Syria_.html?cid=35494000

The two ministers pose between their respective flags (swissinfo)