Russian army general: Syrian problem should be solved by peaceful means

Syria’s problem should be solved by peaceful means and common sense should prevail, Army General Yuri Baluyevsky said. Speaking at a news conference at the Itar-Tass news agency on Wednesday, Baluyevsky said, “I hope that the United States will have common sense not to attack Syria.” “The Syrian issue will be raised at the G20 summit in St Petersburg,” he said, adding that the use of force “can only aggravate the crisis that we’ve tried to overcome since 2008”. “I hope that we’ll be able to solve the problem by political means. The G20 will take part in the resolution of the Syrian conflict,” Baluyevsky said. At the same time, he declined to comment on what measures can be taken by Russia if the war is unleashed against Syria. “According to my data, 80 different Russian ships are deployed in the world’s water areas. I believe that Russia’s key goal is to watch the situation as it happened when missiles had been launched in the Mediterranean region,” Baluyevsky said. Commenting on the Russian Defence Ministry’s position, the general said: “The key goal is to watch the development of the situation around Syria and support the conditions, which will help stabilise it.” On Syria, Baluyevsky said the working group led by Andrei Kokoshin had prepared a special report on the changes in world politics ahead of the G20 summit. “Our report is subjective,” he said, adding, “We put forth our initiatives ahead of the G20 summit by switching the ‘gravity centre’ to the Asia Pacific Region.”