Russia supports initiative to invite Syrian delegations for talks in Beijing - foreign ministry

MOSCOW, December 24. /TASS/. Russia supports the initiative to invite the Syrian delegations to Beijing for talks, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Thursday. "Russia’s stance is that the widest possible range of the Syrian opposition forces should decide on their representatives and finalize their common stances, a certain platform for the talks with the Syrian government," she said. "We believe that the results of numerous meetings of the Syrian opposition that took place in Moscow, Riyadh, Cairo, Astana and Damascus should be taken into consideration. For us, all these venues are important, and the results of these meetings should be taken into account. We consider each of them to be a contribution to a symbolic common pool to prepare the launch of the negotiation process under UN auspices to achieve a political settlement of the crisis in Syria in accordance with the Geneva Communique of June 30, 2012, and the Vienna statements of October 30 and November 14. All these documents were endorsed on December 18 in Resolution 2254 of the UN Security Council. We expect special envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Syria Staffan de Mistura to make the final efforts in this direction, and relevant instructions have been given to him." "China’s initiative conforms with this task," Zakharova noted, adding that "it could be an essential element in its comprehensive solution." Walid Muallem, Syria’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, is paying an official visit to China from December 23 to December 26. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei earlier said that this visit would be part of China’s efforts to facilitate the peace process and political dialogue between the Syrian authorities and the opposition. According to the Chinese diplomatic sources, Beijing also intends to organize a visit of representatives of the opposition to China in the near future. Read more