Representatives of Syrian government, opposition to meet in Moscow in late January - Russian Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW, December 25. /TASS/. The representatives of the Syrian government and the opposition are due to meet in Moscow after January 20, Russian Foreign Ministry’s official spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Thursday. “We are planning in January to offer Moscow floor for organizing a consultative preparatory meeting and contacts between the representatives of the constructive opposition and the Syrian government,” Lukashevich said. Lukashevich said the meeting will be “informal” and does not envisage sending official invitations. UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura is not expected to attend the Moscow meeting, although his participation is not ruled out, the diplomat said. “I do not rule out such a possibility, although the concept of the Moscow meeting envisages exchanging views between the conflicting parties,” Lukashevich said. At the meeting, the Syrian opposition will attempt to formulate its opinion, and it will be later joined by the government representatives in an effort to try to “work out the vision of the way out of the crisis.” The diplomat stressed that the Russian idea of holding a consultative meeting in Moscow does not substitute for an internationally recognized platform for the Syrian settlement, known as the Geneva Communique. “We are very closely working both with the government of Syria and a whole range of opposition groups and organizations calling on the sides to launch a broad dialogue in the interests of the Syrian settlement,” Lukashevich said. He said it is early to announce particular names of the participants among the opposition. “The opposition has a whole range of figures, this is yet to be specified,” the diplomat said. The inter-Syrian consultations in Moscow are not expected to be attended by Syrian President Bashar Assad, but the format of the delegation will be defined by Syria’s authorities, Lukashevich said. “I think that the level of the president of the Syrian Arab Republic is not for this consultative meeting,” Lukashevich said. “Negotiators have been named - they are the foreign minister and the first deputy.” “But it is up to Syria’s authorities to decide on the format for the delegation to be sent for Moscow’s consultative meeting,” the diplomat said. Fighting between Syrian government troops and rebels has left tens of thousands of people dead and displaced millions since its start in 2011, according to UN statistics. Read more