FM's spokesman on Syria, Libya and Russia/Holland diplomat scandal

Описание: (10 Oct 2013) Russia expressed its support on Thursday for an international peace conference to be held in Geneva on Syria.
A unanimous UN Security Council resolution endorsed the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons but also drew up a roadmap for a political transition in Syria adopted by key nations last year, and the much-mooted Geneva II talks are the hoped-for result.
"We hope that it will happen," Alexander Lukashevich, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said. "Otherwise the situation will take on a very destructive character not only for Syria, but also for the whole region."
UN chief Ban Ki-moon suggested November for the peace talks, although questions have been raised whether the government or the opposition could be coaxed to the table.
Lukashevich also addressed growing tensions between Russia and the Netherlands over the arrest and detention of Russian diplomat Dmitry Borodin.
The Netherlands apologised to Russia on Wednesday, but the move appears unlikely to be enough to ease the tensions between the two nations.
"We hope that Holland's government will analyse the possible consequences of unlawful activities in a right way," Lukashevich said.
The swift apology by Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans aimed to smooth over a diplomatic spat that has further soured relations already tested by Russia's seizure last month of a Dutch-flagged Greenpeace ship protesting oil drilling in the Arctic.
Russia has charged all 30 people on board with piracy, which carries a maximum 15-year sentence.
Borodin was arrested on Saturday by police in The Hague over what Lukashevich has called an "absolutely contrived" allegation of child abuse.
His arrest breached the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations, Timmermans said in a statement Wednesday. "The Netherlands offers the Russian Federation its apologies."
In Moscow, meanwhile, a spokesman for the Investigative Committee dealing with the Greenpeace incident, said investigators were trying to identify the activists whose inflatable boats tried to block Russian coast guards.
He said they were "threatening life and safety of an official."
He also said "dual use equipment" and drugs were found on board the Greenpeace boat that protested September 18 at a Gazprom-owned oil rig.
Russian authorities have seized the boat.
Greenpeace said any claim that illegal drugs were found is a smear and a fabrication.
The head of Greenpeace International wrote to Russian President Vladimir Putin requesting a meeting in Moscow - and offering himself as human bail for the detainees.
On the subject of Thursday morning's abduction of Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zidan, Lukashevich said Russia is "under no illusions" about the poor security situation in the North African nation.

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