United Nations, Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said that Turkey’s military operation in northeast Syria should be “proportional” to its declared objectives.
“The Turkish side tells us that they will respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria, and (that) the final aim will be to ensure that the Syrian territory is sovereign and fully integral,” Nebenzia told reporters on Wednesday after the Security Council held closed-door consultations on the situation in northeast Syria following Turkey’s military incursion, Xinhua news agency reported.
“We understand the Turkish national security concerns, but we believe that the operation that they are conducting should be proportional to the aims that they declared,” he said, adding Russian President Vladimir Putin is in continuous dialogue with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Erdogan is coming to Moscow soon and the issue of Turkey’s military operation in northeast Syria will be discussed, said Nebenzia.
He said the situation in the northeast should not affect the work of the Syrian Constitutional Committee, whose first meeting had been expected on Oct. 30 in Geneva under the auspices of the United Nations.
Members of the Security Council expressed their concern, said Nebenzia. “Everybody is interested that the Constitutional Committees starts on time, and that events in Syria will not either hamper or affect or jeopardize its work.”
UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen met in Damascus with Syrian Deputy Prime Minister Walid al-Muallem on Wednesday.
He and Muallem had detailed discussions on how to move forward with the launch of the committee by the end of this month, which remains unscheduled, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric told a daily briefing.
Pedersen will continue to have discussions with the co-chairs of the committee, said the spokesman.
