UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen may pay a visit to Russia in July. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said this on Wednesday at a news conference following talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
"We have invited Mr. Pedersen to Russia for another visit. We are now negotiating the dates. We will probably do so as early as July," Lavrov said.
Lavrov said that Pedersen should try to persuade the Syrians to start a dialogue: "The actions of Pedersen and his team should be exactly like that. Not to impose their vision on the parties, but to help them reach a consensus. It's not easy, there is a lot of mutual distrust piled up on both sides, from the government and the opposition. But that is what diplomacy is all about: finding ways [to solve] these kinds of problems, to overcome these kinds of barriers".
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on materials from TASS