Syrian govt officials, opposition members to meet in Moscow on Wednesday
MOSCOW. April 8 (Interfax) - Officials of the Syrian government are expected to join the Syrian opposition's consultations in Moscow on Wednesday.
Syrian Ambassador to Russia Riyad Haddad told Interfax earlier that a delegation representing Damascus would meet with opposition representatives in Moscow on Wednesday within the framework of April 6-9 inter-Syrian consultations.
The Syrian government's delegation to consultations with the opposition is led by Syria's UN envoy Bashar al-Jaafari, who also headed a Damascus delegation to the first round of these consultations in Moscow in February.
Russia, which organizes these consultations, wants them to help promote dialogue between different Syrian opposition groups seeking to formulate a common stance for negotiations with the authorities in Damascus.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that it had invited several dozen Syrian opposition groups acting both inside the country and abroad to attend the April round of consultations in Moscow. The Russian ministry reiterated that it was only organizing such meetings, but would not take part in them. Vitaly Naumkin, director of the Institute for Oriental Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, and other Russian scholars were appointed as moderators of the inter-Syrian consultations.
Naumkin, for his part, did not rule out a meeting between participants in these consultations and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
At the first round of their consultations in Moscow, Syrian opposition representatives unanimously approved Syrian conflict settlement principles that include non-acceptance of foreign military presence in Syria without the consent of its government.
The document, entitled 'Moscow Principles', also demands the lifting of sanctions against Syria.
However, the inter-Syrian consultations in Moscow have not addressed the fate of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.
The event organizers have said more than once that these meetings in Moscow are not an attempt to replace the Geneva format of talks between Syria's government and opposition.
