GENEVA (Sputnik) — The Russian deputy foreign minister added that he would hold talks on Tuesday with the Syrian government delegation led by Bashar Jaafari, as well as with the Syrian opposition delegation formed at meetings in Moscow and Cairo.
"We are ready [for a meeting with Riyadh’s opposition], but there have been no such requests addressed to us," Gatilov told RIA Novosti on Monday.
Russia, US Have Almost No Disagreements on Intra-Syrian Talks
Moscow and Washington agree on almost all disputable issues on the intra-Syrian peace talks in Geneva, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said.
"Firstly, we do not have any particularly contentious issues [with the United States]. We compared notes with them on the issues related to the launch of intra-Syrian negotiations," Gatilov told RIA Novosti on Monday.
According to the Russian deputy foreign minister, the Russian and US delegations, as well as the United Nations representatives may hold a trilateral meeting on Syria as early as Tuesday.
Gatilov added that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his US counterpart John Kerry would not hold any talks on the Syrian issue until their meeting in Munich on February 11.
US Agrees With Russia on Inviting Syrian Kurds to Geneva Talks
Washington and the United Nations agree with Moscow that the Syrian conflict should be resolved taking into account the Syrian Kurds’ interests, Gatilov also said.
"The Kurds are a very significant part of the Syrian opposition. Americans generally share our views. Unfortunately, there is a Turkish factor involved, who insists that the Kurds are excluded from the negotiations and a political settlement," Gatilov told RIA Novosti on Monday.
UN Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura also agreed that the Syrian Kurds should be included in the intra-Syrian peace talks, but the launch of the negotiations between the conflicting sides was more important at the moment, according to the Russian deputy foreign minister.
