Russia says ‘too early’ to confirm Syria talks in NYC

Russia’s foreign ministry says it is too early to confirm a new round of international talks on ending the war in Syria that are expected in New York later this month.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last week announced fresh negotiations on Syria and diplomats said that they were likely to be held on December 18.

But Russia — a key ally of President Bashar Assad — says that a failure by participants to make progress on lists of rebel groups considered “terrorists” and who should represent the opposition in talks means that it is “premature” to announce talks for that date.

“Not having a collective understanding of who in Syria is a terrorist and who is an opposition member, it is impossible to hold talks on the internal Syrian political process or on such an important and urgent matter as the ceasefire,” the foreign ministry says in a statement.

“We don’t need to hold a meeting just for the sake of meeting.”

— AFP