Russian and American diplomats have met in Geneva to discuss the
future of Syria with the UN envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi. The Guardian
published an article about these talks.
Sergey Lavrov insisted the meeting did not imply Moscow had softened
in its support for the Syrian leader, Bashar al-Assad. Lavrov stressed
that the agreement to meet over the deeply divisive issue did not
amount to Russian acknowledgement that Assad's fall was inevitable.
"US representatives started to make statements hinting that Russia is
changing its position. This is not true. We have not changed our
position, and only on these conditions we agreed to hold the Geneva
meeting," the Guardian quotes the Russian foreign minister. "We said
we would be ready under one condition: that the basis of such
brainstorming sessions will be formed by the Geneva document, without
any additions, without any ultimatums, without any preconditions like
President Assad's resignation."
"The US and its allies interpreted this to mean a government without
Assad, as he would not have the consent of the bulk of the opposition.
Russia and China took it to mean Assad could not be ousted without the
agreement of the regime", the Guardian concludes .
