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Middle East and North Africa

Russia's representative to the UN: Peace conference Geneva-2 can’t be delayed

UN/LAS envoy to hold consultations with Russia, US on Geneva-2 preparations in early November

Photo EPA/ ITAR-TASS

Photo EPA/ ITAR-TASS

UNITED NATIONS, October 22 (Itar-Tass) - A peace conference Geneva-2 on Syria cannot be delayed, Russian Permanent Representative in the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said on Tuesday.

In his words, the resolution that the U.N. Security Council has approved at the end of September over the destruction of chemical weapons and peaceful resolution of the conflict “opened up opportunities to convene an international conference on Syria.”

“We cannot delay it. The Syria conflict is taking particularly dangerous inter-faith shades more and more distinctly,” the Russian permanent representative said. He recalled that “the Syrian government stated many times that they are ready to participate the Geneva meeting” in contrast to the opposition.

The deadlines of a possible date for the conference are named November 23-24. Secretary General of the League of Arab States Nabil al-Arabi named these deadlines. However, the United Nations did not confirm his words, stating that the date for the forum is not set officially. On Monday, spokesman of the U.N. general secretary Martin Nesirky noted that Ban Ki-moon will convene the meeting in Geneva and will announce these negotiations as long as he is prepared to do it.

Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary General’s Spokesperson Martin Nesirky told journalists that United Nations/League of Arab States Special Envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi plans to hold three-party consultations with Russia and the United States on the preparations for a peace conference on Syria (Geneva-2) in early November.

A well-informed diplomatic source at the United Nations headquarters told Itar-Tass, the meeting at the level of Russia and U.S. deputy foreign ministers is preliminarily scheduled for November 5 or 6.

United Nations Spokesperson Farhan Haq said confirmed that Lakhdar Brahimi will hold three-party consultations with Russian and the United States diplomats.

According to Haq, another meeting in the expended format will be held on the same day. It will involve three other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, namely Great Britain, China and France.

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