Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov affirmed on Monday that Russia and Egypt are keen to combat terrorism and stressed the need to end its funding and stop its ideological support.

During a press conference with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry in Moscow, Lavrov pointed out that Egypt plays an important role in supporting the idea of establishing de-escalation zones in Syria.

“Russia and Egypt work actively to help with formation of a collective delegation from the Syrian opposition for talks with the government,” Lavrov said, adding that there is cooperation with others in this regard and the results of this work will be announced soon.

He pointed out that establishing the de-escalation zone in Idleb is so difficult and complicated, adding that work is underway to solve this issue in the framework of Astana process and with the participation of the guarantor states as Russia, Iran and Turkey agreed on establishing this zone and also agreed on holding a tripartite meeting at the expert level at the end of this month or early next month, in preparation for the Astana meeting, saying that he hopes that the participating countries will support the outcomes of this meeting.

For his part, Shoukry affirmed that Egypt supports the de-escalation zones agreement in Syria, noting that his country’s role in this regard is limited to the political framework and provide the appropriate ground for it politically, and that its role is not expected to expand to any participation on the ground in monitoring these areas.

He reiterated his country’s insistence that the political solution to the crisis in Syria is the way that should be adopted and supported by all parties until Syria regains its stability

Source: SANA