MOSCOW. March 20 (Interfax) - Moscow deeply regrets to hear a decision the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces made in Istanbul to elect Ghassan Hitto, a telecommunications technology specialist living in the United States, as its prime minister.
"This step on the National Coalition's part does not promote a peaceful resolution of the Syrian crisis and radically goes against the letter and the spirit of the Action Group's Geneva communique of June 30, 2012," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement.
"The decision made in Istanbul can only worsen internal instability in the SAR and advances the prospect of the country's breakup by counting out not only those who support the existing legitimate government but also the opposition groups that are not part of the coalition," he said.
"We see what happened, especially taking into account Hitto's first public remarks, as the National Council's turnaround from promising February statements in favor of a dialogue to the November 11, 2012 Doha declaration's irreconcilable policy," Lukashevich said.
"Russia still sees the solution in stopping any violence and reaching specific agreements between the SAR government and the opposition regarding the country's future, as is envisioned by the Geneva communique," he said.
"We again call on all parties concerned to promote this very settlement of the Syrian crisis rather than obstruct this process or hamper it," he said.