Lavrov: Russia won’t stop Syria strikes until ‘terrorists’ defeated

Unlike the worldwide coalition led by the United States, Russia has Damascus’s official consent to conducting airstrikes, he said.

Lavrov also said it would be hard to impose a ceasefire unless Syria’s border with Turkey was secured to prevent smuggling and the movement of fighters.

“I can’t see any reason why we should halt our aerial operations until the terrorist shall be defeated”, said Lavrov. Russian Federation has accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his family of helping IS through illegal oil trading, claims Ankara has strongly denied.

Moscow expects those who have influence on Syrian opposition groups to advise them to begin dialogue without any preconditions, Lavrov said, pointing out that certain members of the Lausanne opposition’s delegation are advancing demands that have nothing to do with the agreements already reached in previous talks in Geneva, Vienne and UNSC Resolution 2054.

Lavrov slammed “capricious people” in the Syrian opposition delegation, saying they were “starting to put forward preconditions” that had not been previously agreed, State news agency RIA Novosti reported.

Lavrov said only Syrians could decide the future of their country through the framework of the Geneva negotiations, which Russian Federation fully backed.

“Entertaining a hope that ultimatum-like pre-conditions could help solve problems, I believe, is a short-sighted and dead-end policy”, Lavrov said. The stance of the Syrian government had been constructive, he said.

“The Russian airstrikes won’t be stopped until we really defeat the terrorist organizations, ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra”.