Russia, United States agree Syrian opposition is not ready yet for peace conference

Russian and U.S. senior diplomats agreed at their meeting in Geneva the Syrian opposition was not ready for a peace conference in Geneva, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday.

“Taking into account the non-readiness of a number of Syrian government opponents to participate in the intra-Syrian talks without preconditions, it was agreed to hold an extra meeting (between Russian and U.S. diplomats) in Geneva on Nov. 25 to coordinate the remaining issues of preparation for Geneva-II,” the ministry said in an online statement.

Moscow said the recent meeting in Geneva confirmed the need to urgently launch the political process in Syria through the international conference, which was aimed at full implementation of the Geneva Communique of June 2012.

Russian Deputy Foreign Ministers Mikhail Bogdanov and Gennady Gatilov and U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman took part in the meeting.

“Russia is ready to continue work with the Syrian sides and international partners to achieve that goal,” the ministry said.

Also on Wednesday, Bogdanov suggested the Syrian opposition could visit Moscow for informal talks ahead of the Geneva-II conference.