Russia to host Syrian talks

Russia is ready to host informal talks between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government and the opposition, ITAR-TASS quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov as saying on Wednesday.



The news agency quoted Bogdanov, who represented Russia at talks in Geneva on Tuesday with US officials and UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, as saying that the consultations "do not necessarily have to end in some sort of agreement."



It was most important to "create an atmosphere for (future) talks," the news agency quoted Bogdanov as saying in Geneva.



Bogdanov added that some opposition groups have already agreed to come to Moscow, although he provided no further details, the ITAR-TASS report said.



The Russian diplomat explained that the talks could pave the way for the staging of a formal Geneva 2 conference involving the warring parties and world powers as well as regional Arab states.



The Geneva 2 conference has been delayed throughout the year because of disagreements about who might attend and some rebel leaders' insistence on making Assad's ouster a precondition for the meeting.



Bogdanov said the informal Moscow meeting could offer the opportunity for "people to simply meet each other and discuss problems now standing before the Syrian people - both those represented by the government and the opposition," Interfax reported.



Also on Wednesday, a suicide car bombing killed eight intelligence officers in the southern Syrian city of Sweida, a Druze bastion under regime control, said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.



Earlier, Brahimi expressed hope that a peace conference again delayed could still be held by year's end, as the Syrian opposition remained deeply divided over its participation.



"We were hoping that we'd be in a position to announce a date today, unfortunately we're not," UN-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.



"But we're still hoping that we'll be able to have the conference before the end of the year," he said, adding he would meet again with Russian and US officials on November 25.



His comments followed a day of intense discussions with senior diplomats from the world powers in Geneva aimed at preparing a new international conference to try to end the Syrian conflict.



But Tuesday's meeting ended without a date.



But on the same day as the discussions in Geneva, the US ambassador to the UN voiced "skepticism" about Syria's declaration of its chemical weapons to an international watchdog and said it was checking its accuracy.



"More work of course remains to be done to ensure that the Syrian government's list of declared sites is comprehensive and that the process remains on track, particularly as we enter the destruction phase," said the US envoy Samantha Power.



AFP

