MOSCOW. April 28 (Interfax) - Russia, Turkey and Iran see as destructive the statements made by the Syrian opposition, which is seeking a change of administration in Damascus as a precondition for resumption of negotiations on Syria settlement in Geneva, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"In the context of the efforts to resuscitate the Geneva negotiation platform, we see as extremely destructive some statements that are made by some representatives of external opposition, who link the solution to the Syrian conflict, transition to political negotiations to preconditions," Lavrov said after negotiations with the foreign ministers of Turkey and Iran on Saturday.
"As a precondition, they demand the change of the regime, putting the leaders of the Syrian Arab Republic on trial as war criminals," he said.
"Such approaches not only contradict the essence and letter of Resolution 2254 of the UN Security Council, but they are openly aimed at maximal complication of the work on resuming the negotiation process with regard for the breakthrough results that were achieved at the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi," Lavrov said.