Lavrov to meet Syrian National Coalition delegates in Moscow

MOSCOW, August 13. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday will meet a delegation of Syria’s political opposition group, the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, led by Khaled Khoja. Russia’s top diplomat has urged to encourage the opposition to unify on a constructive platform "which will set out opposition forces’ vision for their own country’s future, enabling them to hold a more effective dialogue, which is now being prepared under the auspices of the United Nations". Hisham Marwah, vice president of the National Coalition, said the group wanted to discuss "a political settlement to the Syrian crisis, Russia’s position on the issue and the Syrian regime’s stance". He told TASS that the group’s delegates were not planning to meet representatives of the Damascus government during their visit to the Russian capital. Asked whether there were plans for a meeting with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, currently on a visit to Moscow, Marwah said "such contacts are not being planned but if al-Jubeir’s schedule allows, there is a good chance that the meeting may take place". On Tuesday, Russia’s deputy foreign minister and the president’s special representative for the Middle East and Africa, Mikhail Bogdanov, met Qadri Jamil, leader of Syria's opposition Popular Front of Change and Liberation. "The sides exchanged views on prospects for a settlement of the Syrian crisis by means of a broad intra-Syrian dialogue on the basis of the Geneva communique of June 30, 2012," the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Russian diplomats are also expected to hold consultations with Saleh Muslim, head of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), and Haytham Manna, member of Syria’s new opposition bloc, the Cairo-2 Committee. Opposition delegates are visiting Moscow on an individual basis. "These visits are not part of a general collective meeting," Lavrov said on Tuesday following talks with his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir. At the same time, Lavrov’s deputy, Bogdanov, said Russia was participating in preparations for a new broad meeting of representatives from all of Syria’s political forces for a settlement of the conflict in that country. "Yes, it is right to say that preparations for such a meeting are in progress," he told the media, when asked if the contacts with the Syrian opposition in Moscow this week indicated there were plans for conducting more broad talks on a settlement in Syria. "We have drawn up lists of participants in such a meeting. We are planning to exchange them with the United States or Saudi Arabia," he said. Should the need arise, he added, "we will hold more contacts in Moscow and in Damascus and possibly some other place". "We have had no plans for the immediate future so far, but they may emerge," Bogdanov said, noting that: "Russia is prepared to host a Moscow-3 meeting." Two intra-Syrian consultative meetings of government officials and also of external and internal opposition of that country (Moscow-1 and Moscow-2) were held last January and April in Moscow. They produced what was promptly dubbed as "Moscow principles", including the parameters of settling the conflict, such as the preservation of Syria’s sovereignty, unity, independence and territorial integrity and the struggle with terrorism. Read more