On the sideline of OSCE’s Ministerial Council, Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, affirmed that military activities in the Aleppo region were halted on December 8 only for a specific period of time in order to allow civilians to leave the city. Lavrov affirmed that Russia is looking for a solution that involves as few casualties as possible. On Thursday, the Syrian Army put its active combat operations in eastern Aleppo on hold to evacuate some 8,000 civilians. Lavrov added that he is hopeful about the upcoming talks on Syria in Geneva, saying there’s a good chance that an agreement can be reached regarding eastern Aleppo, provided that experts from the US actually show up in Switzerland. According to Lavrov, there is a good opportunity to strike an agreement with the United States on the withdrawal of all militants from eastern Aleppo at the meeting of experts on Saturday.
