Russia suggests int'l talks be enlarged with new participants on political settlement in Syria

A new round of multilateral talks on solving the crisis in Syria may take place in Vienna, the Austrian capital, Friday with new participants, including Iran, Egypt and some other Middle East countries, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tuesday.

"Everything will depend on whether it is possible to move beyond certain ambitions, personal preferences and dislikes, to ensure the representative nature of the talks with Iran, Egypt and Syria's Arab neighbors," Interfax news agency quoted Lavrov as saying at a press conference.

The previous round of talks on the Syrian crisis in Vienna took place Friday, with the participation of Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, as well as top diplomats of Saudi Arabia, Adel al-Jubeir, and of Turkey, Feridun Sinirlioglu.

The details of the meeting were not disclosed but the participants agreed to resume it as early as Oct. 30 to see if there was sufficient common ground to "advance a meaningful political process," according to Kerry.

Lavrov said Russia and Egypt were trying to consolidate various forces of the Syrian opposition for talks with Damascus, the Syrian capital.

"Presently, we continue contacts with our Egyptian colleagues in order to unify these efforts and approach the opposition forces about suggestion of how we could help them form a united delegation for talks with the government," he said.

But Lavrov added that there was still no agreement between Russia and the U.S.-led coalition on who could be considered as terrorists in Syria.

"We keep working to ensure that all our partners -- the U.S. and the countries of the region -- agree on a common understanding of who represents a terrorist organization," Lavrov said.

Russia frequently contacted with Iran and Egypt recently on pushing forward the political settlement in Syria, as phone conversations were made by Lavrov with his counterparts of the two countries Saturday.

Besides informing Teheran and Cairo of Friday's four-sided talks in Vienna, Lavrov noted it is necessary to include countries like Iran and Egypt as the external support of the intra-Syrian political settlement.

The civil war in Syria has already resulted in more than 250,000 deaths and evacuation of 11 million people from their homes in four-and-a-half years of armed conflict, according to the UN data.

The United States and its allies have been launching air strikes against terrorists in Iraq and Syria since 2014 and they have also trained combatants of what they call "moderate opposition" to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad.

Russia started launching strikes against terrorist targets in Syria on Sept. 30, which paved the way for offensives launched by Syrian troops to recapture lost ground, as well as for pushing the wheels of the stalemated political process in Syria.

On Sunday, Syrian President Assad reportedly told a visiting Russian lawmaker that he was ready to participate in any early polls "when necessary" and after the victory on the terrorist groups in Syria. Endit