GENEVA (Sputnik) — On Sunday evening, sources at the talks shared with Sputnik that Jaafari had left Geneva for Damascus for consultations due to the alleged refusal by UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura to focus primarily on counterterrorism and not political transition issues.
Meanwhile, other Sputnik's sources could not confirm that information.
"Wishful thinking… I am still in Geneva…I said in my press conference that my next meeting with the special envoy was confirmed for Tuesday afternoon, " Jaafari told Sputnik, asked to comment on the rumors.
On Friday, de Mistura gave a procedural paper to the delegations of Damascus and the HNC with his proposals for the current round of Syria talks. According to a Sputnik source, the UN special envoy expressed his support for direct talks and also suggested focusing on three main topics — governance, constitution and elections, while leaving the issues of ceasefire and the fight against terrorism for Astana-format negotiations.
De Mistura's proposal triggered more disagreement between the parties, as Damascus considers counterterrorism efforts to be extremely important, necessary to discuss on all tracks and not only in Astana. This position was reaffirmed by Jaafari on Saturday.
