Damascus ready to start talks with opposition on March 7 - Syrian ambassador in Russia

MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/. Damascus is ready to resume negotiations with the opposition starting from March 7, US Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura will name the concrete date later, Syrian Ambassador to Moscow Riad Haddad said on Friday. "The UN special envoy will name the date but the Syrian government is ready for this," Haddad said at the Valdai discussion forum answering a TASS question. A source from the Russian Foreign Ministry previously said that talks between the opposition and Syrian government are planned to resume in Geneva on March 7. "Is has been prelimarily decided to resume inter-Syrian talks in Geneva on March 7," the source said. At the same time, the office of UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura in Geneva said that the date for resuming inter-Syrian talks will be announced in the next 24 hours. De Mistura’s press secretary said that the UN special envoy will announce the date at his press conference later today. She did not clarify whether the resumption of talks is scheduled for March 7 saying that there is no information on this matter. The negotiations process was suspended at the start of February after barely starting due to differences in positions of the sides. It was initially planned to resume talks on February 25 but de Mistura said the conditions for that were unfavorable. Read more