“The UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura sabotages the Security Council resolution on convening intra-Syrian negotiations,”Mr. Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday.
"The UN, in the person of its Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura, has sabotaged for over six months the resolution that ordered holding inclusive intra-Syrian talks without preliminary conditions; we support the holding of such meeting in Damascus. I think the Syrian government will agree to that event too," Lavrov told a news conference following Russian-Belarusian foreign ministerial talks.
On Sunday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said after negotiations with de Mistura that there was no difference for the Syrian government whether to hold the next round of the talks in Damascus or in Geneva.
On Monday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told Sputnik that Moscow hoped that de Mistura would convene a new round of intra-Syrian talks as soon as possible. The previous round of the intra-Syrian negotiations under the UN auspices took place in April 13-27 in Geneva, however, it did not result in any agreements on Syrian crisis settlement. The time frame for the next round of talks on Syrian reconciliation was expected to be defined at the meeting of the International Syria Support Group on September 22, but it did not happen.
SPUTNIK/MNA