MOSCOW, November 14. /TASS/. Oman, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq have offered venues for meetings of Syria’s Constitutional Committee, Russian presidential envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentyev told TASS.
"As you know, only one venue - Geneva - is still unacceptable for the Russian side. As for al others, we are ready to work there. There have been a lot of proposals concerning the venue, starting from Omen. Egypt offered its option - Cairo, and this option is still on the table. There have been proposals, or better to say, options for organizing next sessions in Riyadh," he noted.
"Probably, there is an open option with Baghdad, which, regrettably, was rejected by the Syrian opposition. It refused from this venue because Baghdad is supporting Damascus. They don’t think that Iraq is a neutral venue," the Russian diplomat added.
The Russian diplomat stressed that the committee’s work should be resumed as soon as possible, but, in his words, it takes a lot of effort to find a venue that would be acceptable for both Damascus and the Syrian opposition. "I think that it is not easy to exert influence either on the government delegation or on the Syrian opposition delegation, even if it will be held, say, in Baghdad. Today, I openly asked, ‘Why is Baghdad not acceptable? Only because in offers certain support for Damascus? It cannot have any influence on you during the Constitutional Committee’s talks.’ They agreed in principle, but objected to this venue all the same. You know, it’s like diamond cutting diamond - both Damascus and the Syrian opposition keep on rejecting proposed venues," Lavrentyev noted.
Nevertheless, he pledged that Moscow will continue efforts to resume the committee’s work. "Anyway, we plan, and we have reassured UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen that we will continue certain efforts. But, again, I told the special envoy that he must make efforts too rather than calling for exerting influence on this or that side," he emphasized.
The latest meeting of the Syrian Constitutional Committee was held in May 2022 and yielded practically no results. It was planned to organize another meeting in 2023, but it was never held. The Committee held its meetings in Geneva. The Russian side has repeatedly said that Switzerland is no longer a neutral venue, including due to visa issuance problems.