Russia denied today harbouring a “hidden agenda” on Syria as it launched a fresh round of crisis diplomacy with top Syrian and Iranian diplomats ahead of historic peace talks.
The allies’ foreign ministers huddled in a mansion in Moscow to devise a joint stance that would ease the pressure on President Bashar al-Assad to step down when the Syrian peace talks open next week in Switzerland after months of delays.
After 34 months of fighting, the Syrian conflict has claimed around 130,000 lives and displaced millions more.
Ahead of peace talks at the Swiss lakeside city of Montreux, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow and its allies had nothing to hide.
“This does not mean that we have some tri-party (peace) draft,” Lavrov told reporters at a joint press appearance with Iran’s Mohammad Javad Zarif.
“We have nothing to hide. We have no hidden agenda,” he said, before he and Zarif joined Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem for more discussions.
With the so-called Geneva II conference set to open on Wednesday, Moscow wants to convince Washington to accept Tehran’s presence at the talks to bolster its efforts to keep Assad in power and curb the future influence of his foes.
“We expect (Geneva II) to include all parties that are capable of making a positive contribution to settling the conflict,” Putin told a Kremlin awards ceremony prior to his meeting with the Iranian diplomat.
Zarif said only that Iran would attend the Swiss meetings “if we are invited”.
The United States says Iran must sign up to the accord before it can formally join the talks, while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said no final decision had been reached on the Islamic republic’s involvement.
But Zarif said Iran would only attend the Swiss conference “without preconditions”.
In Damascus, Syria’s National Reconciliation Minister Ali Haidar said Geneva II will not solve the Syrian crisis.
“Don’t expect anything from Geneva II. Neither Geneva II, not Geneva III nor Geneva X will solve the Syrian crisis,” he said. “The solution has begun, and will continue through the military triumph of the state.”
It remains unclear whether Syria’s divided opposition will even join next week’s peace talks, with US Secretary of State John Kerry today urging them to take part.
“The Syrian people need to be able to determine the future of their country, their voice must be heard,”,” he said, ahead of a planned vote on the issue tomorrow.