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Russia urges international meeting on Syria in February

Thursday, 28 January 2016 2:04 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 28 January 2016 2:04 PM ]

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov ©AP

Russia has called for an international peace meeting on the crisis in Syria with the participation of key Middle Eastern and Western players in Germany early next month.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told the TASS news agency on Thursday that Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry have agreed in principle for such an event.

“Now we will propose to all the other participants of the international Syria support group a time and place – [the German city of] Munich, February 11,” Bogdanov said.

The proposal comes as Syria’s so-called opposition, which has the backing of Saudi Arabia, is still undecided whether to take part in the UN-brokered peace talks due in the Swiss city of Geneva on Friday.

Some 17 nations, including Iran, the US, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, held several rounds of negotiations last year in the broadest international push to end the conflict in Syria.

A fighter of Syrian pro-government forces walks past damaged buildings on a street of Shaykh Maskin on January 26, 2016 after the Syrian army and their allies retook the strategic town from militants. ©AFP

Last December, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution, calling for a nationwide ceasefire in Syria, the formation of a “credible, inclusive and non-sectarian” government within six months and UN-supervised “free and fair elections” within 18 months.

The talks on a ceasefire in Syria were supposed to start on January 25, but they have been put off until January 29 due to disagreements over who should sit at the negotiating table.

Many high-ranking officials will be heading to Munich next month for an annual security conference scheduled for February 12-14.

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