Syria govt ‘ready’ for Moscow peace talks

Syrian state-run TV said Saturday the government is prepared to take part in peace talks hosted by Russia next month, but the unnamed foreign ministry official it cited suggested the scope of the negotiations would be limited to “preliminary” talks meant to pave the way for a conference held in Syria itself. 

The official was quoted as saying the government was “ready to participate in preparatory, advisory meetings in Moscow” that would “answer the aspirations of Syrians to find an exit from the crisis.” Russia’s foreign ministry had said on Thursday that it hoped to host peace talks after January 20 between the Syrian government and its fractured opposition. The nearly four-year conflict has claimed over 200,000 lives, displaced a third of Syria’s population, and nurtured an extremist group, the Islamic State, which now rules over vast swaths of Syria and neighboring Iraq. 

Russia is a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, and it is unclear whether any of the country’s opposition groups are willing to attend the talks. The main Western-backed Syrian opposition has maintained that any negotiated settlement must include the formation of a transitional governing body with full executive powers, a demand rejected by Assad’s government. 

Russia’s foreign ministry spokesman, Alexander Lukashevich, has said that the first stage of talks would include members of both the government-tolerated internal opposition and opposition groups based abroad. In the next stage, they would be joined by Syrian government representatives.