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Middle East and North Africa

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister, Syrian opposition discuss Geneva-2

Sides agreed to maintain active contacts in order to seek an early transfer of military confrontation in Syria

MOSCOW, November 26, 12:29 /ITAR-TASS/. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov met on Monday with representatives of the Syrian opposition in paving the way for the Geneva-2 conference on Syria, the Russian Foreign Ministry reports.

The top Russian diplomat met separately with representatives from the National Coalition for Syrian Opposition and Revolutionary Forces (NCSORF) and the Coalition for Peaceful Change Forces.

In Bogdanov’s meeting with an NCSORF delegation with its secretary general Badr Jamus at the head, the sides “agreed to maintain active contacts in order to seek an early transfer of military confrontation in Syria, fraught with a degradation of humanitarian situation in that country, into a political process aimed at ensuring a democratic development of sovereign Syria and the unity of its multi-confessional people”.

“In a substantial and sincere conversation, they discussed the run-up to the international conference on Syria aimed at a full implementation of the Geneva communique of June 30, 2012,” the ministry said.

Bogdanov also met with the leaders of the Syrian Coalition for Peaceful Change Forces, Qadri Jamil and Fateh Jamous.

“The conversation focused on the task to transfer a lingering armed conflict in Syria into the channel of political settlement through an early calling of an international conference,” the ministry said.

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