Russia will respect international law in Idlib misison

By Ayhan Simsek

MUNICH

Russia will respect international humanitarian law in Syria’s Idlib, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Saturday.

Addressing the annual Munich Security Conference, Lavrov said efforts are currently underway in Idlib, to implement the memorandum signed last year between Moscow and Ankara to establish a demilitarized zone.

“Presidents of Russia, Turkey Iran met two days ago in Sochi and there was a discussion of this situation,” he said, referring to a trilateral conference in the Black Sea resort city on Syria.

“There was an agreement that the military of Russia and Turkey, with the consent of the Syrian government, would try to establish a step-by-step approach, making several areas inside the zone of de-escalation, areas of joint patrol,” he added.

Lavrov stressed that the military was working on plans, “in accordance with the international humanitarian law”.

“They will certainly do it not the way terrorists in Raqqa were eliminated, where we still have corpses of civilians and mines which are not attended by anyone,” he said, referring to the U.S.-backed military operations against the former capital of Daesh.