Russia, US not to take part in intra-Syrian talks - Lavrov

ZURICH, January 20. /TASS/. Russia, the United States and other participants of the International Syria Support Group will not directly take part in intra-Syrian talks on political settlement, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday after talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry. "Certainly, Russia, the United States and other participants of the International Syria Support Group will not take part in these talks between the Syrian government and Syrian opposition," Lavrov said. "We will support these talks in forms which will be the most useful for Syrians to reach agreements on how they will jointly solve tasks of the transitional period, on which new constitution they will have, how to prepare for early elections, and many other things," he said. The Russian minister expressed the hope that the negotiating process will start in January. "I will underscore: the process will only start, because, certainly, it will take a considerable time," Lavrov said. "A number of very difficult tasks will have to be solved, which were formulated in in the UN Security Council resolution and decisions of the International Syria Support Group, which gathered in Vienna and New York." Read more