PARIS, January 13. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said his country voiced concern about the fact that the Syrian opposition delayed in responding to the involvement in the Geneva II Peace Conference.
“We’re concerned about the delay from the Syrian opposition,” the Russian minister said, adding that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had invited the Syrian opposition to take part in the conference. On the other hand, he said that Syria’s opposition realizes the need to struggle against terrorists, who flooded the country, jointly with the government.
Commenting on the January 12 meeting with lead of the National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces Ahmed al-Jarba, Lavrov said, “Today we’ve urged the opposition and the government to convince them to agree on struggling terrorists, who flooded Syria.”
“This position is shared by al-Jarba whom I met yesterday,” the Russian minister said, adding “We urged the opposition to determine the membership at the Geneva II Peace Conference.
“The Syrian government agreed to take part in the conference and reported on its delegation, involving two women,” he said.
As far as international stakeholders are concerned, "The need of Iran’s and Saudi Arabia’s participation in the Geneva II Conference is obvious. We hope that finally the U.N. Secretary General will send invitations to those on whom the development of the situation depends on,” the Russian minister said.
The Geneva II Peace Conference should be fully devoted to the implementation of the Geneva communique of June 30, 2012, Lavrov said after the meeting.
“We have a common position and we’ve confirmed it today,” Lavrov said. He added that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, U.N./US Special Envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi and he insisted the Geneva II Peace Conference take place on January 22.