Publish Date: 28 December 2012 - 10:53

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has stressed that the 21-month-old crisis in Syria must be resolved through dialogue.

During a meeting with Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Miqdad, Lavrov emphasized the urgent need to end the Syrian conflict, according to a Russian Foreign Ministry statement released on Thursday.

"The Russian side underscored the lack of an alternative to a peaceful resolution of [Syria's] internal conflict through a broad inter-Syrian dialogue and political process," the statement added.

It highlighted that there must be a "halt to the violence, bloodshed and suffering of the Syrian people."

The meeting between Lavrov and Miqdad came as UN-Arab League Special Envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi is set to fly to Moscow on Saturday to discuss the crisis in the Arab country.


Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said the talks with Brahimi would be "directed at ending the violence and launching a national dialogue in the country (Syria) between the authorities and the opposition."

Russia says its stance toward Syria has not changed, denying the existence of any plan with the US that would see Syrian President Bashar al-Assad out of power in 2014.

"There was not and is not such a plan and it is not being discussed," Lukashevich said on Thursday.

He pointed out that Moscow’s policy toward Syria was still based on an agreement reached back in June in Geneva.

Lukashevich added that the United States and other powers who signed the Geneva accord had "turned their position 180 degrees" by supporting the Syrian opposition and holding no dialogue with the Syrian government.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of security forces, have been killed in the turmoil.

The Syrian government says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that a very large number of the militants are foreign nationals.
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