A Syrian Government delegation is due to meet officials in Moscow on Monday to discuss an international peace conference that Russia, the United States and the United Nations are trying to convene, a Russian diplomatic source has said.
Russia and the US announced in May that they would try to organise a conference to bring Syria's government and opposition together for talks. No date has been set, but diplomatic efforts to hold the talks have intensified in recent weeks.
The Syrian delegation may meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday, the source said.
In a conversation yesterday with UN special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, Mr Lavrov expressed hope that a preparatory meeting between Mr Brahimi, US and Russian diplomats on November 25 would "resolve all remaining questions" including which other nations would take part in the conference, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
Global powers have disagreed over whether Iran, the main regional backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, should be invited.
The opposition Syrian National Coalition agreed on Monday to attend the conference but said there could be no role for Mr Assad in Syria's future.
Russia says Mr Assad's exit from power cannot be a precondition for the talks aimed at ending the civil war, which has killed more than 100,000 people.
Meanwhile, Albania has rejected a US request to host the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons, saying it is ill-equipped to handle the disposal of thousands of tonnes of toxic waste.
The announcement represents a setback for a Russian-American plan to get rid of Syria's chemical agents deemed too dangerous to eliminate amid the country's civil war.
Negotiations went down to the wire, delaying scheduled discussions of the plan at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague.
"It is impossible for Albania to get involved in this operation," said Prime Minister Edi Rama said in a televised address to the nation. "We lack the necessary capacities."
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