Iran, Russia Boost Efforts to Settle Syrian Crisis

Source : Fars News Agency

TEHRAN (FNA)- Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov is due to visit Tehran later this week to confer with Iranian officials on the latest regional developments, specially the crisis in Syria.

Bogdanov's visit to Tehran will take place at the invitation of his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian, who visited Moscow on August 5 to consult with Russian officials on the developments in Syria.

Iran and Russia are two strong neighboring countries which enjoy a special position in the international arena and have constant and continued consultations on key regional and global issues.

Late in August, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said in a meeting with the Russian President's Envoy to the 16th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit in Tehran, Konstantin Shuvalov, that strong relations between Tehran and Moscow will reinvigorate peace and stability in the region.

Tehran and Moscow have recently doubled their efforts to settle the problems in Syria which has been experiencing unrest since March 2011 with organized attacks by well-armed gangs against Syrian police forces and border guards being reported across the country.

Hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed, when some protest rallies turned into armed clashes.

The government blames outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups for the deaths, stressing that the unrest is being orchestrated from abroad.

In October 2011, calm was eventually restored in the Arab state after President Assad started a reform initiative in the country, but Israel, the US and its Arab allies are seeking hard to bring the country into chaos through any possible means. Tel Aviv, Washington and some Arab capitals have been staging various plots in the hope of increasing unrests in Syria.