Russia Offers HNC to Continue Cooperation on Ceasefire Implementation

Russia offered Wednesday to continue contacts on the ceasefire implementation with the Syrian opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC), Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said.

GENEVA (Sputnik) – The ministry explained that further cooperation was offered because the information the HNC has does not coincide with the situation on the ground, according to Gatilov.

"On our behalf, we reaffirmed full support for [UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan] de Mistura, expressed support for full intra-Syrian dialogue. Of course, we would like to see the direct talks between the Syrian government delegation and united opposition, but it is necessary to acknowledge that, unfortunately, it is impossible now. And the Syrian opposition is still represented by several groups here, in Geneva," Gatilov added.

Gatilov also said that HNC has agreed to parallel discussion of the key issues at the intra-Syrian peace negotiations as proposed by UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura.

Gatilov met with HNC delegation in Geneva earlier on Wednesday.

"The novelty of this round of Geneva talks is that the sides have agreed with de Mistura's proposal to discuss all issues on several parallel tracks," Gatilov said following the meeting.

The fourth round of UN-backed intra-Syrian talks between the government and opposition factions kicked off in Geneva on Thursday.