Mansour to Discuss Syria Crisis on Sidelines of Arab-Russian Forum

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour traveled to Moscow on Tuesday to attend the Arab-Russian Forum and hold talks with Russian officials on the situation in Syria.

In remarks carried by the state-run National News Agency, Mansour said the foreign ministers of Egypt, Iraq and Kuwait, and the Arab League chief will attend the forum.

This forum “will deal with economic, political, cultural, scientific and trade issues that could consolidate relations between Russia and the Arab world,” he said at Beirut airport before traveling to Moscow.

Asked whether he would hold talks with Russian officials on the sidelines of the forum, Mansour said he had a scheduled meeting with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

“The agenda of the talks with the Russian side includes several issues, among them the current situation in the Middle East, the Arab region and mainly Syria in an attempt to find a solution to its problem,” Mansour said.

“Everyone should contribute to a political solution in Syria to help it come out of its crisis,” he stressed.

Syria has been embroiled in conflict since President Bashar Assad's regime launched a brutal crackdown on protests that erupted in March 2011.

The United Nations says about 70,000 people have been killed.