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French Foreign Minister Due in Moscow Next Tuesday for Syria Talks

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will fly to Moscow next week for talks with Russia’s top diplomat Sergey Lavrov about the Syria crisis, the French ministry said.
Sputnik

"Jean-Yves Le Drian will visit Moscow on February 27 to discuss the situation in Syria with his Russian colleague Sergey Lavrov," the statement read.

The French foreign minister said earlier he planned to go to Russia and Iran in the coming days.

On Tuesday, France called on UN Security Council member nations to help reach humanitarian ceasefire in the militant-held Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta, where 750 people are in need of evacuation for medical reasons.

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The French Foreign Ministry said that Russia and Iran, who back the Syrian government, bear responsibility for the humanitarian crisis in Eastern Ghouta. Russia's envoy to the UN, Vassily Nebenzya, said that Russia was open for talks on the crisis.

Recently, Russian Defence Ministry reported that appeals to illegal armed groups to cease resistance and surrender arms were unsuccessful and that humanitarian and socio-economic situation in East Ghouta was getting critical. The peace negotiations in Damascus suburb have been derailed, the ministry said.

Sergey Lavrov said earlier that Damascus was being shelled from Eastern Ghouta, where the Jabhat al-Nusra terror group was prominent.

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