Lavrov Hopes List of ’Moderate’ Syrian Opposition to Emerge in Coming Days

Local Editor

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed hope Wednesday that a list of the so-called "moderate" Syrian opposition groups ready to sit down at the negotiating table would appear soon.

"The issue, which was also submitted as 'a homework' for the next few days, hopefully a not very long period, is to clarify who belongs to this opposition, which is dubbed moderate and which should be a party to the negotiations, which [UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan] de Mistura and his team are preparing in the context of the Syrian crisis' political settlement," Lavrov told reporters.

Lavrov added the participants of the international meeting in Vienna on the Syrian crisis resolution agreed to identify who of the militants operating on the Arab country's territory are terrorists.

Moscow has been supportive of efforts taken by UN's Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura to bring peace to the Middle Eastern nation and hopes that other parties at Syria reconciliation talks will back him, Lavrov said.

"We wish Mr. de Mistura the best of luck in his work and we will support him in every possible way," Lavrov said after meeting the UN envoy in Moscow.

"I expect that other participants of Vienna talks will be equally committed to supporting Mr. de Mistura so that he and his team succeed in their mission," the top Russian diplomat stressed.

Last week, Austrian capital Vienna hosted a two-day international meeting on Syrian reconciliation. After the end of the talks, high-ranking officials from Russia, China, Iran, the European Union, and the United States issued a 9-point communique on the Syrian crisis.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team