US officials trying to disrupt Syria truce deal: Russia

Russia says the United States seeks to wreck a recently brokered ceasefire agreement in Syria, underlining, however, that the truce process is currently going on.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing in Moscow on Thursday that “some US officials” had tried to “sabotage” the truce deal “by interpreting it from such cardinally different points.”

“By and large, a number of [US] officials in fact attempted to call into question the agreements reached, which were approved by the two presidents” of the US and Russia, Zakharova added.

On Monday, Washington and Moscow said the ceasefire has been planned to take effect in Syria on February 27. The following day, however, US Secretary of State John Kerry said that in case a political transition fails to unfold in Syria, Washington has a slew of “Plan B” options.

“Despite the reports which started coming from Washington, we are in contact with the American representatives, the process is underway, and is quite active. We are working on the implementation of the main provisions of the agreement,” the Russian diplomat said.

Elsewhere in her remarks, Zakharova stressed that Syrian Kurdish forces must take part in the ceasefire deal in the conflict-ridden country.

“We believe that Kurdish representatives should participate in this group [group of the Syrian opposition] and this necessity is proved everyday on the ground in Syria,” she stated.

The comments come against a backdrop of Turkey’s insistence on the exclusion of Syrian Kurdish forces from the ceasefire plan in the crisis-hit state.

New round of Syria peace talks

In a relevant development on Thursday, Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations special envoy for Syria, said the world body will name a date on Friday for Syria’s warring parties to return to the negotiating table for a second round of peace talks.

He announced a halt in the indirect peace talks between the Syrian government and opposition in the Swiss city of Geneva on February 3, arguing there was “more work to be done.”

Analysts said the opposition refused to continue the Geneva discussions after the Syrian army, backed by Russian air power, made significant gains against the Takfiri militant groups on several fronts in the Arab country.

The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which started in March 2011, has claimed the lives of some 470,000 people and left 1.9 million injured, according to the Syrian Center for Policy Research.

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