Syrian authorities ready to exchange POWs with opposition

MOSCOW. Jan 17 (Interfax) - Damascus is ready to exchange lists of POWs with the opposition, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Mualem said.

"I have informed Minister Lavrov about our principled position and our consent to exchange inmates of Syrian prisons for prisoners taken by the other side," al-Mualem told a press conference in Moscow.

"We are ready to exchange the relevant lists and to elaborate a mechanism required for these purposes," he emphasized.