Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov evaluated the activities of Russian diplomacy in 2024 at a press conference held in the capital Moscow. "WE ARE NOT LEAVING THE MIDDLE EAST"Referring to the situation in Syria, Lavrov stated, "We are not leaving the Middle East. Some events occurred in Syria. The reason for this was the stagnation of the political process over the past 10 years. There was a desire not to change anything." Lavrov explained that this was not true and that they encouraged the former Syrian administration to resume the work of the Constitutional Committee, saying, "The Damascus administration was not very keen on the committee's work and reaching some agreements. An agreement could have been reached on power sharing. They did not want to share power with non-terrorist opposition forces. There was a slowdown in the political process. Along with this, social problems began to arise, and the situation worsened. The US sanctions suffocated Syria's economy." "TURKEY WILL NOT ALLOW THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A KURDISH STATE"Recalling that they offered the Kurds in Syria to "establish a bridge with Damascus," Lavrov noted, "They did not want this. They were saying that Americans would be there and would establish a quasi-state. We always tried to explain to them: Turkey and Iraq will not allow the establishment of a Kurdish state. We have taken an approach in favor of discussing and protecting the rights of Kurds in Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Turkey. On one side, Damascus, and on the other side, the Kurds did not want to negotiate." "THE US IS TRYING TO DISABLE TURKSTREAM"Reminding that there was an attempt to attack the compressor station in the Krasnodar region, which supplies natural gas to the TurkStream pipeline, with drones, Lavrov stated that the US was trying to disable TurkStream. Lavrov said, "The US does not want any competitors in any field, especially in energy. The US allows terrorist actions that will undermine the foundations of the European Union's (EU) prosperity in the energy sector and encourages the administration in Ukraine to disable TurkStream after Nord Stream."
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