Russia Hopes Syria Talks 2014 Failure Scenario Does Not Repeat

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said that he hopes the scenario of the 2014 failure for the intra-Syrian talks will not repeat.

GENEVA (Sputnik) — Russia hopes that the 2014 failure scenario in Syrian talks does not repeat, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told Sputnik after talks in Geneva were put on hold until February 25.

On Wednesday, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura decided to postpone the intra-Syrian talks in Geneva until February 25, as many precursory issues, including securing access for humanitarian aid deliveries to besieged areas in Syria, remained unresolved.

"We really hope that the scenario of the 2014 failure will not repeat, " Gatilov said.

Syria has been in a state of civil war since 2011, with the army loyal to President Bashar Assad fighting several opposition factions and militant organizations, including Islamic State (ISIL, also known as Daesh), which is banned in Russia and a number of other countries.

Two rounds of UN-sponsored peace talks, Geneva I and Geneva II, ended in an impasse between the Assad government and the Syrian opposition in 2012 and early 2014, respectively.

Last week, new highly-anticipated talks on Syrian reconciliation mediated by the United Nations began in Geneva in line with the December UN Security Council resolution on Syrian settlement that stipulated that the entire spectrum of political factions in the crisis-torn country should be brought to the negotiating table.