MOSCOW, October 21 (RIA Novosti) - All countries neighboring with Syria must take part in talks on the reconciliation of the crisis in the Middle Eastern country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday during talks with the UN special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura.
"Above all, we are confident that all Syria's neighbors without exceptions must be present at the negotiating table," Lavrov said.
"We consider, first and foremost, the provision of a full-scale, representative character of the Syrian opposition delegation ... to be the key requirement for the success of our joint efforts," the minister added.
Russia's top diplomat noted that Moscow stands for the resumption of the Syrian crisis settlement.
Italian veteran diplomat Staffan de Mistura was appointed as the UN special envoy for the Syrian crisis in July. Earlier, the position was occupied by Lakhdar Brahimi, who resigned after the failure to bring the conflict to a resolution.
Started in 2011, Syrian civil war has claimed more than 191,000 people, according to UN estimates. Government forces are fighting Islamic extremists, including the Islamic State group and opposition rebel forces. Since September, the United States and its allies have been carrying out air raids against the terrorists on the Syrian territory.
Syria is bordering with Turkey in the North, Iraq in the East, Jordan and Israel in the South and Lebanon in the West. The United Nations says Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan together house almost 3 million Syrian refugees.
