MOSCOW. Feb 16 (Interfax) - Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu expects the delegations to meet at the Syria negotiations in Geneva will be committed to looking for a solution to the crisis.
"There is every precondition today to begin dialogue, to begin discussing solutions to the current crisis," Shoigu said at a meeting with UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura in Moscow on Thursday.
"The meeting that you are organizing in Geneva - we fully support it. We are hoping that people who really want to resolve issues, not [just] to debate on this matter, will gather there," Shoigu said.
"In order to begin this work, it would be good to adopt a more thorough and careful approach to the formation of delegations. No side should have priority," Shoigu said.
"It seems to us that a delegation needs to be formed that will make it possible to take further steps in the peaceful settlement of the situation in Syria and in the start of the return of refugees, which has essentially started today, but currently not on the scale on which we would like to see it," Shoigu said.
The negotiations in Geneva on Syria are scheduled for February 23.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier on Thursday that Moscow insists that representatives of the armed opposition should be included in the delegations at the negotiations in Geneva.