UN Welcomes Intra-Syrian Talks Held in Moscow

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) — The United Nations hailed the ongoing intra-Syrian talks in Moscow on settling the conflict, a spokesman for the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday.

“We welcome any effort to restart the political dialogue,” Stephane Dujarric said at a daily press briefing.

Dujarric also specified that a representative of the UN special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura’s office is also present at the talks in the Russian capital.

The second round of intra-Syrian talks kicked off in Moscow on Monday and is due to last until Thursday. The agenda of the meetings includes the launch of a political process to encourage national reconciliation and discussion of confidence-building measures between the Syrian government and the opposition, according to a spokesperson of one of the opposition parties involved in the talks.

The first round of the negotiations in the Russian capital was held between January 26 and 29.

The January talks in Moscow were the first attempt to settle the Syrian conflict since January 2014 after a UN-backed conference in Geneva failed to yield any substantial progress.

Syria has been engulfed in a civil war since 2011, with government forces fighting armed rebel groups. According to the United Nations, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 200,000 people.