Kurdish security chief meets with Russian top diplomat
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Masrour Barzani, the Chancellor of the Kurdistan Region Security Council, on Friday met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The meeting was held on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, a three-day event attended by top officials from the international community to discuss the latest security developments.
“In the meeting, both sides reaffirmed the historic relationship between the peoples of the Russian Federation and the Kurdistan Region,” a statement from the KRSC office read.
Those participating also reviewed ways to increase the strong economic ties with the Kurdistan Region and Iraq as a whole, the statement added.
.@masrour_barzani, Chancellor of @KRSCPress, meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the 2019 Munich Security Conference.#TwitterKurds #Russia #Iraq pic.twitter.com/qysxvJqPZ8
— Kurdistan 24 English (@K24English) February 15, 2019
The officials also discussed Syria, on which Barzani “raised his concern about the future of the Kurdish people,” and “stressed the importance of a peaceful settlement that guarantees their rights and safety.”
On that front, Barzani “urged Russia to help advance that goal through inclusive talks.”
In early January, Maria Zakharova, the spokesperson for Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that her government wants control of Kurdish majority areas now held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to return to the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
“In this regard, establishing dialogue between the Kurds and Damascus takes on particular significance,” she said. “After all, the Kurds are an integral part of Syrian society.”
“The return of official control over all Kurdish-populated territories should also neutralize the security risks to Syria’s neighbors,” she added, in an apparent reference to Turkey, which has been threatening for months to cross its southern border into Syria to attack Kurdish armed groups there.
?FM Sergey #Lavrov met with @masrour_barzani on the sidelines of @MunSecConf#MSC2019 pic.twitter.com/TgCRj9AhQp
— MFA Russia ?? (@mfa_russia) February 15, 2019
Barzani left for Germany on Wednesday and is expected to meet with the National Security Advisor to Iraq’s Prime Minister, Falih al-Fayyadh, German lawmakers from the Union parties Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU), and CDU chair Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, separately and respectively, according to an official document received by Kurdistan 24.
Today, @masrour_barzani, Chancellor of @KRSCPress, will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and National Security Adviser to #Iraq’s PM, Falih Fayyadh on the sidelines of the 2019 Munich Security Conference.#TwitterKurds #MSC2019 pic.twitter.com/jEh3CNnUxh
— Kurdistan 24 English (@K24English) February 15, 2019
According to the Munich Security Conference website, over 35 heads of government and heads of state, as well as 50 foreign and 30 defense ministers will attend the three-day event.
Editing by Nadia Riva and John J. Catherine
