Russia calls for immediate cease-fire in West Asia

Moscow, July 19: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov today said a ceasefire must be declared in order to normalise the situation in West Asia.

''First of all, all sides should declare a ceasefire, and they should fully comply with all statements by the G-8 summit in St Petersburg, including releasing hostages, halting exchanges of fire and releasing Palestinian ministers and MPs,'' Mr Lavrov said in an interview with Ekho Moskvy radio station.

He also said there was no need to evacuate Russian citizens from Lebanon through Israel.

''We will try to use this route if other routes fail,'' he pointed out.

A plane of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry today left for Syria to evacuate about 1,500 Russian citizens, the Ministry's press service said.

An Ilyushin Il-62 flew from Moscow's Domodedovo airport to Latakia (Syria) to evacuate citizens of Russia and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, it said.

Commenting on the situation in West Asia Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said the diplomacy was the only way of settling the conflict.

''The only way of resolving the conflict is by political and diplomatic means,'' Mr Ivanov told RIA Novosti news agency in reply to a question on whether Russian peacekeepers might be sent to the region.

''I do not see any other option,'' he said, adding that the issue of peacekeeping could only be discussed after both conflicting sides agreed to the idea.

''The UN Security Council will within the next few days or even hours adopt a resolution, but we can only start talking about peacekeepers when both parties to the conflict have given their consent,'' he noted.

''Otherwise the presence of peacekeepers is pointless,'' Mr Ivanov said.

Meanwhile, former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov called for UN peacekeepers to be deployed to West Asia.

Mr Primakov, an expert on West Asia affairs, told Interfax news agency that a UN peacekeeping contingent should be deployed to the Israeli-Lebanese conflict zone in order to prevent other nations from being drawn into the conflict.

''I think this is now a full-scale war between Israel and Lebanon and other countries may get involved in this war,'' he said.

UNI