MOSCOW, January 18. /TASS/. A meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen will be held in Moscow on January 21, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin told journalists on Friday.
"A meeting with Mr. Pedersen, Special Envoy of the UN Secretary General for Syria, is to be held in Moscow on January 21," he said. "It will be his first arrival to Moscow, so we expect him to tell us about his vision of how to implement the UN solutions and achieve a political settlement. The Russian position on this account has long been known, and we are conducting our course with the other countries of the Astana format, Iran and Turkey."
Pedersen carried out his first official visit to Damascus this week as UN special envoy for Syria, where he met with Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Walid Muallem. He regarded the meeting as constructive, reporting that the agreement was reached that will visit Damascus on a regular basis.
Pedersen replaced UN Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, who occupied this position for more than four years. He used to be Norway’s permanent representative to the UN in 2012-2017 and worked as an ambassador in Beijing. In the Middle East he performed the mission of the UN Special Envoy for Lebanon in 2005-2008 and occupied the position of Norway’s representative in Palestine in 1998-2003.