MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Monday, US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced that an agreement on cessation of hostilities between the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad and the armed opposition factions had been reached. The agreement will come into force on February 27.
"The cessation of hostilities in Syria can be characterized as an indicator of their [Russia and the United States] ability to start reformatting the whole system of the international relations," Franz Klintsevich, the first deputy chair of the upper-house Committee on Security and Defense, told journalists.
The lawmaker expressed hope that both Russia and the United States would do their best for the ceasefire regime to be observed.
"Both powers understand perfectly well that their authority is at stake here," Klintsevich said, adding that the provocations to disrupt the agreement were possible.
Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with the country’s government fighting numerous opposition factions and jihadist groups, including Daesh and Jabhat al-Nusra, both outlawed in many countries including Russia.
According to UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, only a ceasefire and humanitarian progress in Syria will make the intra-Syrian talks, which are currently in pause, credible.
