UN chief to set timeframe for Geneva-2 talks on Syria – Russia

The spokesperson for the Russian foreign office has refused to comment on the date of the long-delayed Syria peace talks in Geneva, which Syria’s deputy PM Qadri Jamil said was planned for November 23-24. Alexander Lukashevich said the exact date would be announced by the UN Secretary General,according to Voice of Russia.

“As to the dates mentioned by Mr. Qadri Jamil, I can neither confirm nor dismiss them. It is the duty and responsibility of the UN Secretary General, since the forum is to be held under his aegis,” Lukashevich said Thursday.

“We are expecting him to give us a sign when he plans to announce the timeframes,” the diplomat added.

Lukashevich said the Russian authorities are ready to announce these dates, “bearing in mind that the Syrian government has more than once confirmed its readiness to fully take part in this conference and has already appointed its authorized delegation.”

“However, we are talking about a very important political step, the position of the Syrian opposition groups, which, firstly, should form a unified position on Geneva II because we are now hearing increasingly threatening statements that Geneva II is not a forum acceptable to the opposition,” Lukashevich said.

“The opposition is ready to go until the end to overthrow the current government, that is, it is moving into a totally different direction not only from the Geneva communique of June 30, 2012, but also the demand made in the UN Security Council’s Resolution 2118, which fully backed the idea of an international conference on Syria on the basis of the Geneva communique,” he said.

Russia does not insist on presence of Syrian “opposition’s coalition” in Geneva II

The idea of gathering Syrian “opposition forces” at the Geneva II international peace conference for Syria under the national coalition aegis has been buried, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

“It does not have to be a single [opposition] or unite under the “national coalition’s” umbrella, which is desired by our Western colleagues. As we can see, this prospect has actually been buried because it [the coalition] is no longer integral,” Lukashevich said.

He added that Russia and its negotiation partners continued to make energetic efforts on all levels for the conference’s sake. 

The main problem at the moment is “the complicating situation inside the “Syrian opposition”, which is undergoing mimicry, developing absolutely dangerous forms of the armed struggle in Syria and bluntly rejecting the political settlement prospects,” the diplomat said.

“This trend must be reversed,” the ministry spokesman observed.

In his words, Russia hopes that “US colleagues, who kept telling us they would unite the “opposition” on the political settlement platform and force it to come to Geneva for a dialogue with the government alongside the attendance by a number of regional states that are openly sponsoring opposition groups, will make sure that the opposition puts in a full-scale appearance consistent with the earlier agreements.”

Syria successfully proceeds with elimination of its chemical weapons

Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stated that Damascus is successfully providing inspections of its chemical weapons and has proceeded with elimination of the key equipment.

M.D