"We have long been ready for the United Nations to resume talks. However some whimsical people have been delaying the talks, they formed the so-called High Negotiation Committee. It is one of the groups of Syrian opposition, mainly consisting of emigrants, which does not have any influence on what is going on 'on the ground' in Syria, however they are receiving strong support from the so-called Group of Friends of the Syrian People … The Committee says that they will not start talks with the government until [President] Bashar Assad leaves," Lavrov noted.
The Syrian authorities and opposition, along with the mediators, have been engaged in UN-brokered settlement talks. The latest round of intra-Syrian talks took place in Geneva in April. The HNC opposition group walked out of the negotiations, citing the continuous fighting in Syria and the lack of progress on humanitarian issues. HNC transition plans included constitutional revision in its final stage.
Syria has been in a state of civil war since 2011, with government forces fighting the Syrian opposition groups striving to overthrow Assad. Damascus is also fighting numerous extremist groups, in particular Daesh, a terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries.
