Russian FM Sergei Lavrov says Syria meeting ‘very useful’

Lavrov said in a press conference in Damascus on Tuesday President Assad was “fully committed” to stopping the unrest in the country, “from whatever source it comes.”

“We have every reason to believe that the signal that we have brought here to move along in a more active manner along all directions has been heard,” Lavrov said.

The Russian foreign minister added that Moscow “intends to be actively engaged in” finding a solution to the unrest in Syria with the “Syrian side, Syria’s neighbors and the Arab League.”

Lavrov, accompanied by Mikhail Fradkov, the head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, arrived in Damascus for talks with President Assad on Tuesday.

On January 28, Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi said in a statement the organization had decided to “immediately stop the work of the Arab League's mission to Syria” due to “the critical deterioration of the situation” in the country.

The observer mission had been in Syria since December 26, 2011 and was tasked with monitoring the implementation of the Arab League resolution to end the unrest in the country.

The Russian foreign minister said on Tuesday, “Syria has notified the Arab League of its interest in the League’s mission continuing its work and increasing its quantity.”

“Russia is convinced in the need for the mission, which is a serious stabilizing factor in Syria, to remain and expand,” Lavrov added.

Russian officials said Lavrov’s Tuesday trip to Damascus was because Moscow sought “the swiftest stabilization of the situation in Syria on the basis of the swiftest implementation of democratic reforms whose time has come.”

According to Russian media reports, Lavrov said President Assad will “in the nearest future” meet with a commission that has been preparing the “draft of a new constitution” and the schedule of a referendum on the draft “will be announced.”