Lavrov says Macron has “colonialist” position on Syria

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that French President Emmanuel Macron’s call not to withdraw troops from Suria is a “colonialist” position, a statement of the Russian foreign ministry says.

“This is a kind of a colonialist position. We shall clear it with our French partners what they meant, because until now they reiterated at all levels that the US coalition is working in Syria just to annihilate the terrorist threat that come from the ISIS (a terror organization banned in Russia - EADaily) and other institutions mentioned by the UN Security Council as terror organizations,” Lavrov reportedly said.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron had a phone talk and discussed the situation in Syria. According to the Kremlin press office, the Russian side stressed that the missile attack of the US and the coalition in Syria was a blatant violation of the international law and it resulted in more complication of the political settlement of the Syrian crisis.

The parties agreed to continue joint efforts aimed at renewing the peace talks on the basis of the UN Security Council Resolution 2254 and taking into account the outcomes of the Syrian National Dialog Congress in Sochi.