Syria peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi will hold talks in Moscow on Saturday following consultations with President Bashar al-Assad's regime in Damascus, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Wednesday.
The Russian foreign ministry had earlier said that Brahimi himself had requested the meeting as he pursues what so far has been fruitless efforts to negotiate an end to 21 months of violence that have claimed more than 45,000 lives.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was pushing Brahimi to ensure that the warring sides stick to a June peace plan that calls for a transition of power without making an explicit demand on Assad to step down.
Brahimi arrived in Damascus on Sunday and has also met with leaders of a regime-sanctioned opposition party that also makes periodic visits to Moscow.
But a UN Security Council diplomat said the veteran Algerian diplomat had received no support from any of the warring sides. Russia has issued a series of statements in recent weeks distancing itself from the Damascus regime.
President Vladimir Putin said on two occasions last week that Moscow had no intention of propping up the Assad government.
The foreign ministry also confirmed that Moscow was drawing up preparations for an evacuation of Russian personnel in case of the armed opposition's rise to power.
Meanwhile, at least 20 people, including eight children, were killed as Syrian army tanks blasted a village in the northern province of Kahtaniyeh on Wednesday, a monitoring group said.
“At least 20 people, among them eight children and three women, were killed in shelling by regime forces of farmlands in Kahtaniyeh village, west of the city of Raqa,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Amateur video posted online by activists and distributed by the Observatory showed several bloodied bodies, including at least one of a child, laid out on blankets in a house. “Dozens of people have been injured in farmlands of Kahtaniyeh, among them a whole family,” according to activists in Raqa.
The Russian foreign ministry had earlier said that Brahimi himself had requested the meeting as he pursues what so far has been fruitless efforts to negotiate an end to 21 months of violence that have claimed more than 45,000 lives.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was pushing Brahimi to ensure that the warring sides stick to a June peace plan that calls for a transition of power without making an explicit demand on Assad to step down.
Brahimi arrived in Damascus on Sunday and has also met with leaders of a regime-sanctioned opposition party that also makes periodic visits to Moscow.
But a UN Security Council diplomat said the veteran Algerian diplomat had received no support from any of the warring sides. Russia has issued a series of statements in recent weeks distancing itself from the Damascus regime.
President Vladimir Putin said on two occasions last week that Moscow had no intention of propping up the Assad government.
The foreign ministry also confirmed that Moscow was drawing up preparations for an evacuation of Russian personnel in case of the armed opposition's rise to power.
Meanwhile, at least 20 people, including eight children, were killed as Syrian army tanks blasted a village in the northern province of Kahtaniyeh on Wednesday, a monitoring group said.
“At least 20 people, among them eight children and three women, were killed in shelling by regime forces of farmlands in Kahtaniyeh village, west of the city of Raqa,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Amateur video posted online by activists and distributed by the Observatory showed several bloodied bodies, including at least one of a child, laid out on blankets in a house. “Dozens of people have been injured in farmlands of Kahtaniyeh, among them a whole family,” according to activists in Raqa.