Russia’s Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday that the Russian delegation which recently visited Syria discussed details on holding a second round of inter-Syrian consultations in Moscow, between April 6-9.
In a statement issued by the ministry, Russia claimed special envoy Azmatullah Kolmohammadov and Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vitaly Naumkin had visited Damascus on March 21-22 as commissioned by the Russian Foreign Ministry, to discuss the second round of inter-Syrian talks in Moscow.
The ministry noted that the Syrian partners lauded Russia’s efforts for holding the talks and affirmed their determination to make their participation in the next Moscow meeting successful.
President Bashar al-Assad met with Kolmohammadov and an accompanying delegation last Sunday, asserting the importance of continuous consultations and coordination between the two countries to ensure the success of a political solution to the Syrian crisis.
A Russian diplomatic source said that the Doha Coalition’s refusal to participate in the second rounds of consultations in Moscow isn’t a tragedy, and shouldn’t affect the level of the oppositions’ representation.
The source, who wished to remain anonymous, said that despite the Coalition’s refusal to participate in the meeting, Russia is still working with its representatives, saying that the Coalition isn’t representative of the entire opposition, while their absence from the first meeting did not detract from its success.
