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No confirmation of Syrian opposition's participation in Geneva II Peace Conference

VIENNA, December 19. /ITAR-TASS/. The composition of Syria’s opposition at the Geneva II Peace Conference has not been determined yet, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said ahead of the Russia-U.S.-U.N. meeting in Geneva.

There is no final decision on the Syrian opposition’s readiness to take part in the talks, Gatilov said.

“The Syrian government said it would take part in the conference without any preconditions,” the Russian diplomat said.

“We’ll ask Americans in what degree the Syria opposition is ready to take part in the conference and who will represent it,” he added.

“The priority task is to involve both parties - the government and the opposition,” Gatilov said. “There are many opposition groups. In order to make the Geneva conference successful key opposition groups should be involved in it. Then we can hope that decisions, which will be taken during the government-opposition dialogue, can be carried out,” the diplomat said.

The lists of participants in the talks will be presented till December 27, 2013, Gatilov said.

This will be the fifth tripartite meeting, which is being held in Geneva since June 2013. During the previous meetings, the parties failed to reach agreement who would represent the Syrian opposition at the peace forum due to be held in Switzerland on January 22, 2014 and what states should be invited to the forum.

Russia is traditionally represented by deputies foreign minister, Mikhail Bogdanov and Gennady Gatilov.

The Geneva conference on Syria will be opened in the Swiss city of Montreux on January 22. It should involve foreign ministers from several dozens of states. The Geneva talks will be resumed on January 24.

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