ASTANA. Jan 25 (Interfax) - Russia urges Kurds in bilateral contacts to begin direct dialogue with Damascus, given the potential withdrawal of the U.S. contingent from Syria, Russian Special Presidential Representative Alexander Lavrentyev said.
"The original cause of tensions in Syria is the illegal U.S. military presence. It largely explains the situation on the eastern bank of the Euphrates," Lavrentyev said at a press conference after the Astana-format meeting on the Syrian settlement, where Russia, Iran and Turkey serve as the guarantor states.
"The Americans, who are still present in Syria, are carrying out a consistent and steady policy towards separation, the federative structure of the Syrian Arab Republic, which is actually unacceptable in the current political realities," Lavrentyev said.
"Of course, we stand for dialogue between Kurds and Damascus. This dialogue has been faltering, but this is not the fault of the Syrian government, which is ready [for dialogue] or the Kurds, who are also ready to maintain and develop dialogue. In fact, this is the fault of the Americans who do not approve the beginning of consultations and the resolution of the problem the way the Syrian leadership sees, among others," he said.
Russia "will continue taking efforts in this area but still the heads of the Kurdish administration should probably realize that U.S. troops will leave Syria sooner or later and they will have to solve their problems with Damascus one-on-one," Lavrentyev said.
"As you know, Iraqi Prime Minister Al Sudani again demanded just a week ago that the U.S. contingent be withdrawn from Iraq. If there is no U.S. contingent in Iraq, then, as you realize, the presence of the U.S. contingent on the eastern bank of the Euphrates will be out of the question," he said.
"To our knowledge, the U.S. side has declared the readiness to grant Baghdad's demand and start withdrawing the U.S. contingent," Lavrentyev said.
"It's hard to tell for now how realistic this is. The process may take a long time, even years. As you can see from many countries, the Americans enter easily, despite the opinion of the leadership of a particular state, under the pretext of fighting terrorism but they leave with great difficulty. The only place they left swiftly is Afghanistan," he said.
"Perhaps, the situation will develop and is developing so that the same happens in the territories of both Iraq and Syria," Lavrentyev said.
"So, we tell Kurdish colleagues during our contacts that they have to reach consent, to establish communication with the central government, as they have to co-exist in the country they share," he said.
Russia stays in contact with both Damascus and Kurdish representatives, members of the Kurdish political and military administrations, Lavrentyev said.