The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed on Tuesday the head of the Executive Committee of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), Ilham Ahmed, for the second time this year.

After receiving an official invitation from the Russian Foreign Ministry, a delegation from the SDC and Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) visited Moscow to meet with the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the Russian side affirmed its readiness to continue efforts to help the Syrians reach agreements in various forms in order to restore the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria in full as soon as possible, according to and to guarantee the legitimate rights of all ethnic and religious groups in the country.

SDC issued a written statement after the meeting, stating that they discussed methods to resolve the Syrian crisis and bilateral files which are important for both sides to advance the Syrian settlement in general.

“The meeting was positive, as the two sides discussed the Syrian situation in general and methods to find a comprehensive settlement for the Syrian file on the basis of UN Security Council Resolution 2254, and all files related to improving the humanitarian situation in Syria,” the SDC said.

The meeting focused on many common points, the most important of which is the Syrian-Syrian dialogue and Moscow’s support and encouragement for dialogue between the SDC and the authority in Damascus, according to the statement of the SDC.

“The two sides also talked about the need to work seriously for the participation of the SDC in the political process and to represent it in a balanced manner in the international networks as a main and active party in the Syrian political scene,” the statement read.

The Special Envoy of the Russian President to the Middle East and Africa, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and a number of senior officials of the Syrian file in the Russian Foreign Ministry also held consultations with Ilham Ahmed.

The SDC delegation included a member of the Presidential Council of the SDC Sihanouk Debo, the co-chair of the Executive Council of Al-Jazeera Region, Nazeera Goreah, in addition to the deputy head of the Department of Foreign Relations for North and East Syria, Fanar Al-Ka`it and Rashad Binaf, a representative of the Autonomous Administration in Moscow and Abdul Salam Ali, a representative of the Democratic Union Party in Moscow

Founded in 2015, the SDC is the governing body of the AANES.

This is the second meeting between Russia and AANES in this year as Moscow previously hosted a delegation from AANES in September.

AANES has been urging the UN to recognise their political status as an autonomous political entity.

The first step in recognising the AANES came from Catalonia this year. The Catalan Parliament on 20 October has recognised the AANES as a legitimate administration “based on democratic confederalism as a political entity”.