US declares Russia strictly complies with order to withdraw troops from Syria

The US announced on March 15 that up to this point, Russia has strictly complied with the order to withdraw troops from Syria.

The first squadron of Russian fighter jets leaves Syria. Photo: Russian Army

AFP quoted White House spokesman Josh Earnest as saying: "The latest signs show that Russia is complying very seriously" as the first Russian fighter pilots returning from Syria were welcomed as heroes.

However, the White House cautiously said that it was too early to assess this move of Russia and that the decision of Russian President Vladimir Putin was too sudden. "Russia did not announce this in advance," Mr. Earnest declared.

US Secretary of State John Kerry announced that he will travel to Moscow next week to talk with Russian President Putin and his counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

“The conversations will focus on how we can effectively advance the political process in Syria and take advantage of the opportunities at this time,” Mr. Kerry said.

Meanwhile, in Geneva, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura described Mr Putin's decision to withdraw troops as "an important step" for the ongoing peace talks in Geneva.

“We hope that this will have a positive impact on the negotiation process,” Mr. Mistura said, adding that the Syrian opposition had submitted documents outlining the basic principles for a political solution for the Middle Eastern country.

The Syrian opposition said that if the Geneva talks make progress, they are ready to "sit at the same table" with the government forces without needing to go through intermediaries.

Mr. Mistura said that he was considering proposals from the government and the opposition to find “common ground.” “We have exchanged some documents and ideas on how to push the next negotiations to focus more deeply on the process of power transfer,” Mr. Mistura said./.

According to VOV