On July 26-27, Geneva hosted Russia-US-UN consultations on Syria. Russia was represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov.
The sides conducted a detailed exchange of opinions on the continued efforts to resolve the Syrian crisis, in which intra-Syrian talks in Geneva should play a central role.
Gatilov emphasised the need to launch a dialogue among Syrians as soon as possible without any preconditions. In turn, Staffan de Mistura suggested late August as a tentative time for convening the next round of talks. The Russian spokesman said the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic has already agreed to take part in the talks and emphasised the importance of an inclusive delegation from the Syrian opposition, which should include Kurdish representatives as well as all other opponents of official Damascus that take a constructive approach and seek a comprehensive political settlement of the Syrian crisis.
The Russian spokesman called it unacceptable to make the start of the talks dependent on artificial preconditions and to impose on Syrians settlement solutions from the outside. He emphasised that only Syrian parties should be involved in agreeing the parameters of Syrian statehood at inclusive talks.
