Lavrov urges UN to convene new round of intra-Syrian talks in Geneva

ABU DHABI, February 1. /TASS/. Moscow calls on the United Nations to intensify efforts on convening the intra-Syrian talks in Geneva, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the Russian-Arab cooperation forum in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. "The meeting in Astana (on January 23-24) created an additional platform that is not a substitution for the Geneva process," Lavrov said. "But still we believe that our friends in the United Nations should hurry up and stop delaying the resumption of talks." "We will keep the Astana platform for control over implementation of the agreements reached at the first meeting with the participation of the Syrian government and armed opposition units," he added. UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura announced the decision on Tuesday to postpone the Geneva talks between Damascus and the opposition from February 8 until February 20. De Mistura said the UN seeks to give time to implement the agreement reached at the Astana meeting on setting up a ceasefire monitoring mechanism. If the ceasefire is ensured, this will contribute to the success of the Geneva talks, he stressed. The latest round of Geneva talks was held on April 13-27, 2016 and brought no result. De Mistura planned to resume discussions last May but the date of the meeting had been postponed many times. Read more