MOSCOW, November 20. /TASS/. The discussion of the amended Syrian constitution should be a priority for the National Dialogue Congress in Sochi, Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Office and Other International Organizations in Geneva, Alexey Borodavkin, said in an interview with Izvestia.

He noted that the initiative on convening the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi will make it possible "for the Syrian Government and the widely-represented opposition to finally talk directly about the country’s future." "Syria’s updated constitution should be discussed in the first place," the diplomat stressed.

Borodavkin also expressed the hope that the National Dialogue Congress would "yield specific positive results". Its convocation "does not contravene UN Security Council Resolution 2254 on the Syrian settlement and is not a ‘rival’ of the Geneva process," he stressed. "On the contrary, we hope that, along with Astana, Sochi will help break the impasse at the Geneva negotiations," the diplomat added.

The Russian Foreign Ministry earlier reported that 33 organizations, including opposition groups based in Damascus, Cairo, Riyadh, Istanbul, Paris, Geneva and Madrid, had been invited to take part in the event. The forum is aimed at expanding the range of the participants in the settlement at the expense of representatives of tribes, ethnic and religious groups that live in the country.