DAMASCUS, Syria — The United Nations’ secretary-general pressed the U.S. and Russia to help ensure that peace talks aimed at stemming Syria’s civil war can soon resume, while Russia’s foreign minister said Saturday that it was “very difficult” to push Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government to make concessions.
A week of peace talks ended Friday in Geneva with no concrete progress and no commitment from Assad’s envoys to return Feb. 10 for more meetings with the Western-backed opposition, as suggested by mediator Lakhdar Brahimi.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a conference of global security officials in Munich that he urged Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at a meeting on the sidelines “to use their influence to ensure the talks proceed as scheduled on Feb. 10.”
The U.S. has insisted that Assad cannot be part of a transitional government, while Russia has been a key ally of Assad’s government.
Speaking to reporters on his return to Damascus, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said his delegation was “ready” and waiting for an invitation to return to Switzerland.
An agreement to allow aid convoys into rebel-held parts of the central Syrian city of Homs has remained stalled, with the government and opposition accusing each other of holding up the aid delivery into the city, which has been under siege for nearly two years.
