Sputnik - UK Prime Minister Theresa May declared on Friday that the leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) states want Russia and Iran to use their influence over the Syrian leadership to to deliver a ceasefire and move to a "genuine political process."





MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The heads of the Group of Seven (G7) countries have common view that Iran and Russia, as states supporting the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad should exert their influence to strive for Syrian conflict settlement, May said.
"We agreed that it would be impossible to defeat terrorism without a political settlement that brings a stable transition away from President Assad. We welcomed the progress towards de-escalation but [made] it clear that the regime’s backers Russia and Iran must use their influence to deliver a ceasefire and move to a genuine political process," May said at a press conference held in the follow-up to the G& meeting.


Syria has been in the state of civil war for six years, with government forces fighting against both Syrian opposition groups who strive to overthrow Assad, and numerous extremist and terrorist groups such as Daesh and Jabhat Fatah al Sham, both of which are outlawed in Russia.

Russia and Turkey are the guarantors of a nationwide Syrian ceasefire regime that came into force on December 30, 2016 and on May 6, 2017, Russia, Turkey and Iran signed a memorandum on the establishment of four safe zones in Syria as part of the Astana talks on Syrian settlement.

The G7 presently involves Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Russia used to be the group's member for 16 years until 2014, when the seven states boycotted the G8 summit in Russia’s Sochi, citing disagreements over the Ukrainian crisis.

The G7 meeting, scheduled for May 26-27, is held in the Sicilian town of Taormina.