Syria: Russian Redeployment and the Peace Process Debate

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Department: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

Syria: Russian Redeployment and the Peace Process

Philip Hollobone Excerpts
Tuesday 15th March 2016

(8 years, 8 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lord Hammond of Runnymede Portrait Mr Hammond
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I am not sure that I entirely agree with my hon. Friend. I think we have quite a reasonable assessment of the military resource that Russia has in Syria and we will be able to now monitor whether that resource is being genuinely withdrawn or simply rotated.

Philip Hollobone Portrait Mr Philip Hollobone (Kettering) (Con)
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Given that Daesh has not been the main focus of Russian airstrikes, to what extent does my right hon. Friend think the Russians would advocate a partition of Syria?

Lord Hammond of Runnymede Portrait Mr Hammond
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It is a subject of speculation whether the immediate objective of the Assad regime and of the Russians is to carve out some kind of Alawite mini-state in the north-west of Syria, but as I have said several times, because we have no dialogue on these things, and because Russia is completely untransparent about its motives and its plans, we can only speculate.