Lavrov: Peace conference on Syria tall order

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov described Monday preparations of a peace conference on Syria as a "tall order", after talks with his US counterpart John Kerry in France, Russia Today reported. Kerry and Lavrov tackled the specifics of the upcoming ?Geneva conference 2, an international push to find a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis. "It's not an easy task. It's a very tall order. But I hope that when the United States and the Russian Federation take this kind of initiative, the chances for success are there," he said after the two met by themselves for roughly 90 minutes. So far, neither Russia nor the US has specified an exact date for the conference. After their previous meeting, Lavrov and Kerry announced that the conference could take place by the end of May, but that date was later pushed back to at least mid-June, according to diplomatic sources. Kerry spoke for both countries when he said they were committed to upholding the principles outlined in the Geneva Communiqu? of 2012, which proposed a transitional government to be elected by mutual consent between the government of Bashar Assad and the Syrian opposition. The two officials also agreed that the prospect of chemical weapons use in the country was a daunting one. "Both of us expressed our mutual concerns about any potential use of chemical weapons and the need to really get the evidence and ascertain what has happened in that regard. Both Russia, and the United States- if it were being used - object to that very, very strongly," the US secretary of state said. The proposed conference would be a follow up to an international meeting in Geneva last year that drafted a peace plan for Syria. Lavrov and Kerry have met in France for the sixth time since the beginning of this year, and the Syrian crisis was once again one of the main topics on the agenda. The main challenges are to determine the list of participants, and to ensure that representatives of the Syrian opposition join the talks. Washington and Moscow have agreed that Russia will negotiate with Damascus, Tehran and Beijing, while the US will discuss the issue with Qatar and Saudi Arabia, RIA Novosti reported. Lavrov has pointed to a second issue with the talks: Ensuring that key regional players, especially Syria's neighbors, are present in order to broker an effective and lasting solution to the crisis. Damascus indicated that it is prepared to participate. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem said on Sunday that the government always believed that dialogue among the Syrian people is the solution to this crisis,? adding that ?nobody and no force in the world that can make decisions on behalf of the Syrian people, as they alone have the right to do that.? Some Syrian opposition organizations expressed willingness to send representatives to the talks. However, various Syrian rebel factions gathered for two separate meetings in Istanbul and Madrid last week and failed to agree to take part in the negotiations without preconditions.