Russia urges UN-Arab League envoy to remain unbiased

Russia has urged UN-Arab League Special Representative for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi to remain unbiased.

The Russian Foreign Ministry posted a statement on its website, saying, “…a lot depends on the activities of Brahimi,” Interfax reported on Monday.

The envoy “as an international mediator and in accordance with the mandate issued to him, should hold unbiased and objective lines setting the opponents to search for common denominators and encouraging them towards dialog and continuing the negotiating process,” the statement added.

The second round of talks between delegations representing the Syrian government and the foreign-backed opposition in the Swiss city of Geneva deadlocked on February 15 with both sides sticking to their positions.

The Syrian delegation said fighting terrorism should be the top priority, but the opposition insisted that formation of a transitional government and resignation of President Bashar al-Assad must come first.

“The delegation of the Syrian government has supported in principle the proposals of the special representative and has expressed readiness to continue work on this basis and to arrive for the third round of talks, where its timeline is set,” the Russian ministry said.

“At that, the topic of achieving agreements between the parties on the issues of fighting terrorism, which amid the current situation development in the country is quite justifiable has been set as a priority one,” it noted.

On Monday, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed US claims that Moscow failed to push for a political solution in the second round of talks.

Lavrov said that statistics show that the main problem behind the Syria conflict is the terrorist and extremist groups that have spread across the country and do not answer to any political structure.

The Russian foreign minister made the comments after US Secretary of State John Kerry criticized Moscow for what he called Russia not doing enough to make sure the Syrian government remained committed to the Geneva II talks.