MOSCOW, January 9 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s President Vladimir Putin spoke with his counterpart in Iran on Thursday about Tehran’s nuclear program and the upcoming Geneva 2 international peace conference.
Putin discussed the situation in Syria with Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani in a telephone conversation that also focused on bilateral cooperation and current world affairs, the Kremlin said in a statement. It gave no specific details.
The Geneva 2 conference scheduled for January 22 aims to try to negotiate a peaceful end to the civil war in Syria. Russia and the United States, as initiators of the gathering, must approve a list of nations invited to attend the talks.
But they have not yet agreed on Iran's role. The US and Syrian opposition groups have expressed opposition to Tehran’s presence at the talks, accusing the Middle Eastern nation of supplying Syrian President Bashar Assad with troops and weapons during the near three-year conflict.
Iran also refused to support a 2012 agreement that called for the Syrian regime and rebel groups to form a transitional government by mutual agreement.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said this week that Iran could potentially contribute from the sidelines without attending the peace talks. Iran has said it will refuse to play a minor role.
A United Nations spokesman said that Iran was not included in the first round of countries invited to attend Geneva 2, but that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon supports its participation.
Kerry and Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are expected to decide on Iran’s invitation during a meeting scheduled for January 13.
The UN-Arab League’s Syria envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, said in December that delegations from 26 countries would attend the Geneva 2 talks, including Germany, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Italy, Georgia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and the United Arab Emirates.
More than 100,000 people have been killed and 9 million people displaced since fighting broke out in Syria in 2011, according to the UN.
