Russia Boosts Efforts To Launch Syria Constitutional Committee - Russian Envoy

Russia is stepping up its efforts to encourage the formation of the Syrian Constitutional Committee and kickstart the political process in the country, Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Chumakov said on Thursday.

NEW YORK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 03rd January, 2019) Russia is stepping up its efforts to encourage the formation of the Syrian Constitutional Committee and kickstart the political process in the country, Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Chumakov said on Thursday.

"In Syria, we continue to step up our effort to implement the decisions of the Sochi National Syrian Dialogue Congress; we are stepping up efforts to launch the political process and the Constitutional Committee," Chumakov said. "It is very important to Syria to resume normal life and establish its sovereignty."

Chumakov made the remarks during a ceremony to honor members of the Alexandrov Ensemble who were killed in a plane crash in 2016.

Minister Counsellor Louay Falouh of the Syrian Mission to the UN in turn thanked Russia for its cooperation in the effort to achieve peace in Syria.

The NYC Schiller Community Chorus, as well as the New York City Police Department Honor Guard, the Bayonne Fire Department Honor Guard, and diplomatic representatives from both Russia and Syria gathered for the third commemoration ceremony at the Teardrop 9/11 Memorial in Bayonne, New Jersey, to honor the loss of the Alexandrov Ensemble members and others who died when their plane crashed en route to Syria for a Christmas concert in December 2016.

On December 25, 2016, a Russian Defense Ministry Tu-154 plane heading from Moscow to Syria crashed shortly after refueling and take-off from the southern Russian city of Adler, near Sochi. The aircraft was carrying 92 people, including eight crew members, 64 musicians of the Alexandrov Ensemble, nine journalists, the head of the Spravedlivaya Pomoshch (Fair Aid) charity Elizaveta Glinka, and two Federal civil servants. None of them survived the crash.