MOSCOW (AFP) -
Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is to host UN envoy Staffan de Mistura
for talks on Syria in Moscow on Tuesday, the foreign ministry said.
"Talks
between Mistura and Sergei Lavrov followed by a press conference will
take place" in Moscow, spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told AFP on Monday.
The
talks will be held amid accusations by the United States and other
supporters of the Syrian opposition that Russia has violated
international agreements to back peace in the war-torn country.
Washington
and Moscow are the joint sponsors of the Syrian peace process, and de
Mistura had made it clear that he sees little hope of progress without
their agreement.
But the United States charges that Russia, while
agreeing to support a ceasefire, has done little to rein in Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad's forces around Aleppo.
The head of
Moscow's coordination centre in Syria, Lieutenant General Sergei
Kuralenko, said on Sunday that talks to include Aleppo province in a
so-called "regime of silence" -- or freeze in fighting -- had begun.
Kuralenko told reporters on Monday that those talks were still continuing.
Russia
says it will not ask the Syrian regime to halt air raids on Aleppo as
it believes they are helping to combat jihadist groups there.
More than 270,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011 with protests demanding Assad's ouster.
© 2016 AFP
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