Speaking at a press briefing in the UN headquarters in New York, Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for Secretary-General, said on Monday that the upcoming round of talks will be joined by Russia and Saudi Arabia.
The deputy spokesperson also said that UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura is in Riyadh and is expected to head to Moscow to have more discussions with Russian officials, ahead of new round of talks in Geneva.
Haq mentioned the “four baskets” which constitute the basics of the negotiations process. The baskets are: forming a non-sectarian government within six month; drafting a new constitution; holding UN-supervised elections within 18 months; and combating terrorism.
For its part, Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed de Mistura’s visit on Wednesday. "De Mistura will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday to discuss Syrian reconciliation," the RIA Novosti news agency quoted an unnamed diplomatic source as saying.
On Sunday, the UN envoy asked to come to Damascus before holding the fifth round of Geneva talks, but Assad regime told the envoy’s office that it would not receive him in Damascus as his visit was not welcomed.
The next round of the intra-Syrian talks in Geneva will begin on March 23. The delegations will be present in Switzerland a day earlier.
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