MOSCOW. Jan 20 (Interfax) - Moscow expects to create conditions for the beginning of the direct negotiations between the government and the opposition in Syria at a meeting in Astana, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"We expect that together with all our colleagues we will be able to create conditions for the beginning of the direct talks between the government and the armed opposition. It would be the most significant achievement, because there have never been direct negotiations between the government and the opposition before," Lavrov said at a press conference following a meeting with his Kazakh counterpart in Moscow.