GENEVA, March 1. /TASS/. Russia has confirmed its support to the agenda of Geneva talks, put forward by UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, at talks with the delegation of Syrian opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC), which also agreed to it, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said on Wednesday after consultations with participants of the intra-Syrian talks in the Swiss capital.
"We have confirmed full support to efforts of Mr. de Mistura and spoke in favor of the intra-Syrian dialogue to be relaunched as soon as possible," Gatilov said.
"After consultations with Mr. De Mistura, the HNC delegation has agreed to the agenda he suggested," he said. "It inspires hope that eventually the process will probably be set in motion."
The current round of talks in Geneva is peculiar for the sides’ readiness to discuss the agenda suggested by the UN envoy, he said.
"Novelty of the current situation in Geneva is that the sides have agreed to de Mistura’s proposal to consider the issues concurrently, that is all the issues," he added.
On February 27, Gatilov arrived in Geneva to attend the High-Level Segment of the 34th Session of the Human Rights Council. Along with this, he has been holding consultations with participants of the intra-Syrian talks.
Meeting with UN envoy for Syria
Gatilov does not rule out that a new meeting with UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura might take place on March 2, whereas he is not planning to hold more consultations with the Syrian opposition.
"Perhaps, there will be meetings tomorrow. I am not planning to meet with opposition, here everything is clear," Gatilov told reporters on Wednesday after talks with participants of intra-Syrian talks in the Swiss capital.
"A meeting with de Mistura is possible if he asks for it," he added.
On February 27, Gatilov arrived in Geneva to attend the High-Level Segment of the 34th Session of the Human Rights Council. Along with this, he held consultations with participants of the intra-Syrian talks. The Russian diplomat met twice with UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura and with Syria’s Ambassador to UN Bashar Jaafari, the head of government delegation, as well. Also, he had separate meetings with each opposition group attending at the Geneva talks - so-called ‘Moscow,’ ‘Cairo’ and ‘Riyadh’ groups.