MOSCOW. Feb 16 (Interfax-AVN) - The negotiators at the talks in Astana managed to work out a mechanism of swapping people being forcibly held in Syria, deputy head of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff Main Directorate Sergei Afanasyev said.
"In quite complicated meetings today we managed to devise a mechanism of swapping people, primarily women and children, who are being forcibly held," Afanasyev said during the Astana-Moscow TV hook-up on Thursday.
"The discussion on the measures of building up mutual trust became an important item at today's meeting," he said. "It seems to us that their lack largely contains the process of peaceful settlement," Afanasyev said.
"Meanwhile, the statute on the joint task force, which had been approved today, for the first time involved a clause about swapping of the bodies of casualties that, to our mind, will also promote the fostering of confidence measures," Afanasyev said.
"The Astana platform allows for involving representatives of the Syrian Arab Republic and armed opposition representatives in this work," he said.
"United Nations representatives, who have vast experience of work in this area" provided tangible aid in work on devising a mechanism for swapping people who are being forcibly held, as well as the bodies of casualties, Afanasyev said.
"At the same time, the provision of humanitarian aid to Syrian population was discussed," Afanasyev said.
First and foremost, populated localities where the access to humanitarian aid is harshly limited, were discussed, he said. The Idlib governorate was primarily discussed, as there are several towns where predominantly Shiites reside and where Sunni armed opposition units control the territory around them.
Furthermore, there are similar populated localities in the Damascus governorate, where Sunni Muslims mainly make up the population and Shiite Hezbollah units control the adjacent area, Afanasyev said. "We think that the delivery of humanitarian aid there could largely build up confidence measures between the conflicting parties," he said.
There are plans to consider "already concrete steps in this area" in further work within the framework of the joint task force, he said.
"In particular, it is the delivery of humanitarian aid not only to these populated localities, but also other towns in the territory of Syria, where local residents are suffering from a shortage of foodstuffs, medicines and where the evacuation of injured and sick people is needed," Afanasyev said.