Russian ForMin hopes to resume talks on Syria in near future — diplomat

Russia’s Foreign Ministry hopes that the talks on Syria can be resumed in the near future, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said on Wednesday.
“The sooner it will happen the better. We’re ready to take part in the talks even tomorrow,” he said.
New UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, who has recently visited Moscow, shared this view. “In his opinion, the time has come to join efforts to promote the (negotiating) process,” Gatilov said.
“He (de Mistura) is planning to speak at the UN Security Council these days or in the beginning of November. We expect him to tell us what concrete things need to be done for resuming the political dialogue between the Syrian parties,” he said.
The ministry “hopes that his appointment will allow us to invigorate the Syrian political dialogue by joint efforts. We’d like to hope that it will happen in the near future”, Gatilov said.
However, he said there were certain problems related to the format. “There is no broad delegation from the opposition that would represent all factions,” Gatilov said.
“It is also important for all external players to take a constructive position. Primarily, I mean Americans. Unfortunately, we’ve not received any signals that they are ready to restore the negotiating formats that existed several months ago,” he said.

The ministry also considers it important “to involve other regional players, who can put positive influence upon the launch of the talks and their promotion,” Gatilov said, adding that Iran should be included.
He said the successful completion of the talks on Iran’s nuclear program “will have a positive impact on the Syrian problem.”
“Apart from Iran, there are other players. There is Egypt, which can also play a positive role and help launch this process,” Gatilov said.