Moderate Syrian opposition has changed the attitude of the extremist group “Islamic state” (IG banned in Russia) acting in the territory of the country. This opinion was expressed by Deputy Chairman of the Duma Committee on defence Yury Shvydkin in an interview with “Tape.ru”.
“In the camp of the moderate opposition has been some revival. She no longer wants to be a tool to achieve the objectives of the IG. And this revival, to some extent, helps our Syrian units to act more effectively”, — said Switchin.
He stressed that the opposition was able to encourage participation in the negotiations in Astana. “In my opinion, this is due to the reaction of the civilian population on what is happening. In any country, especially if there is burning, as in Syria, civilians do not want war”, — he said.
15 March in the capital of Kazakhstan ended the main stage of the third round of negotiations on the Syrian settlement. This time, the armed opposition did not participate in them, but the head of the Russian delegation, Alexander Lavrentiev at the end of the talks said that rebels are going to arrive in Astana in the morning of March 16. “Therefore, leaving part of the delegation we are part of the delegations of Turkey and Iran for consultations”, — he said.
For the first time the delegation of the armed opposition sat at the negotiating table with representatives of the official Damascus 23-24 January in Astana. During the discussions, the Russian delegation handed over to the opposition proposals for amendments to the Constitution of the SAR.