MOSCOW, September 6 (RIA Novosti) - Russia expects Staffan de Mistura, new special envoy for Syria crisis, to present a plan on the establishment of a dialogue between the sides of the conflict and is ready to invite him to Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told RIA Novosti in an interview.
"I think he is still at the stage of building his agenda. He needs to hold talks with Damascus, to meet with the opposition, with other key players, after which he would present his vision of the problem resolution, as we expect," Gatilov said.
"On our part, we have immediately expressed our support to him and our preparedness to develop work collaboration. I think, in the course of his work, we will meet him. We will either invite him to Moscow, or we will organize a meeting with him elsewhere," the diplomat said.
Russia is also ready to renew Syria talks in the Russia-US-UN format, Gatilov added.
"So far, we have no information on the trilateral meeting. We are ready for it. But as we have sensed, our American partners are holding back on this [idea]," he said.
The Syrian Army has been fighting multiple groups of rebels, including foreign contractors, since March 2011.
According to the latest figures by the UN, the civil war in Syria has claimed more than 191,000 lives, and more than 3 million Syrians have become refugees and more than half of the country’s population has been displaced since the beginning of the conflict.
