Russia has invited Syria's government and opposition leaders to Moscow for urgent talks on ending violence.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said it had called on the Syrian authorities and all opposition groups to send their representatives to Moscow “for informal contacts without pre-conditions.
The Syrian government has already conveyed its ‘positive response,'” said the Ministry in a statement on Monday.
“We are convinced that it is highly imperative to arrange such contacts in Moscow at the earliest in order to immediately end all violence in Syria, prevent a bloody split and confrontation in its society and facilitate the success of far-reaching democratic transformations in accordance with the wishes of all Syrians,” said the statement.
The call for talks came as Moscow rejected the new Arab-European draft resolution on Syria presented by Morocco in the U.N. Security Council on Friday.
Russian Ambassador to the U.N. Vitaly Churkin expressed “deep” disappointment with the draft, saying the international community should not impose an outside solution on the Syrian conflict.
He also rejected the idea of an arms embargo or the use of force against Syria.
In a further defiance of the Western hard line, Russia last week signed a $550-million contract with Syria for the supply of 36 advanced combat jet trainers, Yak-130. Defence analysts said the deal was a forerunner for the supply of Russia's latest fighter planes, MiG-29M or MiG-35, to Syria.
At the end of last year, Russia delivered the Bastion anti-ship missile system equipped with supersonic Yakhont cruise missiles to Syria, providing a strong deterrent against any attack from the sea.
A Russian Navy squadron made a call to the Syrian port of Tartus earlier this month in what was seen as a show of support for President Bashar al-Assad.
