Inter-Syrian talks in Moscow envisage no ‘international participation’ - moderator

MOSCOW, January 20. /TASS/. Moscow’s talks between Syria’s government representatives and the opposition due on January 26-29 do not imply international parties, but only serve as a platform and propose no fixed agenda, a moderator for the meeting Vitaly Naumkin said on Tuesday. “This is an inter-Syrian meeting, and that’s why it differs from the Geneva negotiations. This is the first step to hold consultations. There will be no official Russian or international participation,” said Naumkin, a renowned Russian academician, who heads the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences. Moscow is just the venue for consultations between all the Syrian patriots, he said. “If they think about the country’s future and want to stop bloodshed, the terrorists’ onslaught then the Moscow platform offers a chance to sit down at the negotiating table,” the expert said. The meeting cannot be considered as a substitution for the Geneva talks, he stressed, adding that the Moscow negotiations should speed up the proposed Geneva 3 round of talks. The success of the Moscow conference is not that the parties could reach a potential agreement but just that they will sit down at the negotiating table, Naumkin stressed. Invitations have been sent to the parties individually, prompting dissatisfaction among some of the opposition members, as the National Coalition considers itself as the only representative of Syrians, he said. The latest high-level talks on Syria’s future, known as the Geneva 2, took place almost a year ago. Since then, no steps have been taken to resume the inter-Syrian contacts. Syria’s civil war, which began in the early spring of 2011, has so far killed nearly 200,000 people and injured one million, according to the United Nations figures. Read more