Efforts to resolve the crisis in Syria may be taken up by an international “contact group”, including Russia, Iran, the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt, it emerged on Monday, hours before Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin were to hold their first meeting in over two years. Mikhail Bogdanov, the Russian deputy foreign minster, said the group could meet by October the RIA news agency reported from Moscow.
The group conspicuously excludes Britain and France, both permanent veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council who are hostile to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as well as China.
— © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2015
