Russia admits ‘tall order’ to hold Syria peace talks

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PARIS: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov admitted Monday it would not be easy to organise Syria peace talks, as European efforts to reach an accord on whether to arm the rebels appeared to have stalled.

Speaking after talks in a Paris hotel with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Lavrov said ensuring the success of the proposed peace conference was “not an easy task, it’s a very tall order.”

The two men have been working to organise the talks under the aegis of the United Nations to bring together the Syrian regime and the opposition in a bid to end a bloody conflict that has raged for more than two years.

The push to bring the warring sides together is ever-more pressing in a conflict that has claimed more than 94,000 lives, amid reports of ‘horrific’ rights violations and mounting evidence that chemical weapons are being used.

Lavrov said the aim was to try to stop the bloodshed in the war.

No date or venue has yet been agreed for the talks, which aim to build on a similar initiative called ‘Geneva 1’ held in June last year.

“Both of us, Russia and the US, are deeply committed, remain committed to trying to implement the Geneva 1 principles which require a transitional government by mutual consent,” Kerry said.

In Brussels, meanwhile, European Union foreign ministers failed to hammer out an agreement on whether to supply weapons to Syria’s rebels when an arms embargo expires this week.

“It was not possible to find a compromise with France and Britain,” said Austria’s Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger, whose country was sharply opposed to calls by London and Paris to lift the EU arms embargo. — AFP