Russian Federation also criticized the Riyadh accord for not including members of the so-called “patriotic Syrian opposition” seen as friendly towards Assad.
Advertisement
Syrian political and armed opposition factions agreed Thursday at unprecedented talks in Riyadh to negotiate with Assad, but insisted he must step down before any political transition begins.
“We can not accept the attempt by the group which met in Riyadh to assign itself the right to speak on behalf of the entire Syrian opposition”, the ministry said in a statement December 12.
The interview with Spanish news agency EFE and released on state news agency SANA came a day after more than 100 representatives from the fragmented political and armed resistance consented in Riyadh to work jointly to get ready for peace talks with Assad in Syria.
“There’s no point in meeting in NY or anywhere else without defining terrorist groups”, he said.
“There’s a big difference between militants, terrorists and opposition”, Assad said.
The countries involved in the talks – which also include Saudi Arabia, Iran and Turkey – laid out a plan including formal talks between the government and opposition from January 1.
“I believe it was a kind of progress when we agreed to move in practical terms to identify terrorist groups and to help the United Nations assemble an opposition delegation for negotiations with the government”, said Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister.
“We are still convinced that terrorists of all stripes should be excluded from the political process in Syria”, the foreign ministry said. The committee will then select a negotiating team.
Before the final declaration was signed, the powerful Islamist rebel group Ahrar al-Sham said it had withdrawn from the meeting, protesting the prominent role given to a Damascus-based opposition group, the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change, saying the latter was closer to the Assad government than the opposition.
“Opposition, for everyone in this world, doesn’t mean militant”.
“Is Saudi Arabia authorized to decide who will represent the Syrian people?”
But they riled Moscow by calling for Assad to step down at the start of a transitional period leading to elections.
Saudi Arabia is hosting the meeting to try to unite the Syrian opposition before potential talks with the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
Advertisement
Several Western diplomats were at the tightly secured luxury hotel where the talks took place without taking part in the sessions, and sources there said a Russian diplomat was at the hotel when unofficial discussions began on Tuesday.
