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YEREVAN, JANUARY 21, ARMENPRESS: The Geneva-2 conference dedicated to the Syrian conflict will take place on January 22 in Geneva, Switzerland. The preparatory issues of the international conference have already been discussed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov and the United States Secretary of State John Kerry. By January 20 it was known that the Syrian opposition would participate in the conference with a 15-members delegation, but after the UN Secretary General’s invitation sent to Iran, the National Coalition of the Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces demanded from the UN to cancel the invitation in six hours.The former Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia to Syria David Hovhannisyan tells Armenpress about his viewpoint on the expectations from the Geneva-2 and further developments.
- Mr. Hovhannisyan, first let us understand what is going on in Syria. The country conducts works on the chemical weapons disposal, the opposition is split and the war still continues.
- Syria is emaciated and the sides are weakened. The opposition is split and the Free Syrian Army, which has never been a unity, today disappeared. The main fighters are the Salafi detachments, who are well-armed and well-financed. Consequently, as far as that financing exists, the war will continue. Certainly, there are serious changes as well. First, the United States of America keeps aside from these events and the European countries, which joined the military events with such “affection”, now, understanding the situation better, provide limited assistance to the fighters. The backbone of the fighters has been broken and large-scale attacks are unlikely to occur. It means that the Syrian Army got the opportunity to get reorganized, refresh and raise its efficiency. It is very important how long will the providing of the weapons to the Syrian Army continue from the countries, which obviously support the government.
- Can we state that the Russian diplomacy has scored a major victory in the Syrian issue?
- Certainly, the Russian diplomacy has registered a serious result, which would have been impossible, if the United States had not created that opportunity. First Obama did everything to keep his country aside from the direct participation in the conflict. Right for that reason he instituted some provocations connected with the chemical weapons to make the USA to join the conflict. Then the cooperation with the Russian side became quite convenient and the USA managed to come to some solutions with Russia and China. (THE FULL VERSION OF THE INTERVIEW IS AVAILABLE IN ARMENIAN)
Interviewed by Hasmik Harutyunyan