The Daily Press Briefing

Statements made by
the Ministry for Europe
and Foreign Affairs
Spokesperson


Paris - May 30, 2018
In this issue:

◢  Belarus – Death penalty

◢  Syria

 
Belarus – Death penalty

France condemns the executions disclosed by the press on May 29 of Alexandre Mikhalienia and Viktor Liotov, who had been sentenced to death in March and October 2017 respectively. We also reaffirm our deep concern about the situation of other Belarusians facing the death penalty.

France reaffirms its constant opposition to the death penalty everywhere and under all circumstances. We urge the Belarus authorities to establish a moratorium on the death penalty, the first step toward its abolition. Such a development is critical to Belarus's rapprochement with the EU as well as with the Council of Europe.



Syria

Have you been able to establish the coordination mechanism between the Astana process to resolve the Syrian conflict and the "small group"? If so, is a meeting expected to take place in the near future?

President Macron and President Putin agreed in St. Petersburg on the establishment of a bilateral coordination mechanism in order to have an agenda for parallel but common discussions for the "small group" and the Astana group.

Our goal is to establish dialogue between these two groups and to "build together the convergences that will make a political solution to the Syrian crisis possible."

We are continuing our discussions with Russia and our "small group" partners, both with respect to the practical implementation of this mechanism and the concrete issues it will address.


France in the
United States
Embassy of France in Washington, D.C.
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