Moscow – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that his country would never agree to a truce with “terrorist” rebels in Syria’s Idlib region.
The state news agency TASS on Tuesday quoted Lavrov as saying this at UN meeting in Geneva.
Russia and Turkey, which support opposing sides in the Syrian civil war, brokered a fragile ceasefire in January for Idlib, Syria’s last rebel stronghold, near the Turkish border.
As Russia has insisted that Turkey remove extremist militant groups from Idlib, the Russian-backed Syrian state military has made advances into the north-western region.
Both Russia and Turkey have reported casualties among their servicemen amid the escalation in fighting in recent weeks.
“Russia would never agree to a truce akin to surrender to terrorists.
“Such a truce would encourage them to continue blatantly violating universal conventions,’’ Lavrov said.
(dpa/NAN)