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Moscow hopes Syrian opposition to agree to take part in Geneva II conference

MOSCOW, January 16. /ITAR-TASS/. Moscow hopes that the Syrian opposition will agree to take part in the Geneva II conference on the Syrian crisis settlement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday in connection with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem’s visit to Russia due on January 17.

“The Syrian government has already confirmed its participation in Geneva II and named members of its plenipotentiary delegation at the forum,” the ministry said. “Unfortunately, the Syrian opposition members have not done this yet.”

“We hope to hear soon the consent of the opposition with which our American partners are actively working,” the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed.

“The convening of an international conference on Syria on the scheduled date is of major importance, but the forum is not an end in itself,” the ministry believes. “It is important to make the Geneva process — from the very beginning and even before its opening — promote the positive change of the situation ‘on the ground’ in terms of lessening trouble and suffering of the Syrian people and reducing violence.

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