Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov revealed, during a press conference at the Russian embassy in Washington, that President Donald Trump was the one who initially mentioned the idea of creating de-escalation zones in Syria aimed at stabilizing the situation in the war-torn-country, including in the southern part of Syria along the border with Jordan and Israel.
“Regarding Syria, first of all we are focused on the ideas that were discussed during Rex Tillerson’s visit to Moscow when he briefed us about his ideas regarding the creation of security areas, de-escalation areas. That was the idea that was mentioned by President Trump when he talked over the phone with President Putin. Then Rex Tillerson gave more details about this idea in Moscow. And now these ideas have been implemented, thanks to the agreements reached in Astana, where the idea was put forth to set up four de-escalation areas, including in the south, which is of particular interest to the U.S., in stabilizing the situation at the border between Syria, Jordan and Israel. And we stand ready to cooperate on this issue. And today we discussed the specific ways to jointly implement these agreements,” said Lavrov.
The Russian top diplomat, who is on an official visit to the United States for the first time since President Donald Trump took office, praised the new administration in Washington as ‘people of action’ while stating that both President Putin and his American counterpart Trump have clearly stated their interest in establishing mutually beneficial relations that would aim at removing problems from the international agenda, as opposed to former President Barack Obama, who Minister Lavrov said ‘was contaminated by ideological characteristics’.
“President Trump clearly stated his interest in building mutually beneficial businesslike, pragmatic relations with Russia and to settle outstanding issues. That’s what’s important, that both President Trump and President Putin are willing to obtain concrete results that will help remove problems from the international agenda.” / “Now our dialogue is free of the ideologization that was characteristic of the Obama administration. The Trump administration, and the president himself, and the secretary of state, I was persuaded of this once again today, are businesslike people, and they want to reach agreements, not for the sake of demonstrating their achievements to anyone in terms of their ideological preferences. They are willing to negotiate to come to an agreement in order to address and settle certain issues which are key for the development of the country, for the prosperity of their people, and are instrumental in the settlement of conflicts in various parts of the world,” continued Lavrov.
The comments by Foreign Minister Lavrov came just after a meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House. According to a senior US official, the two discussed the situation in Syria, as well as a wide range of international issues. The meeting is the highest-level contact between Trump and the Russian government since the American President took office on January of this year.