Russia trying to realize planned conference on Syria

Russia is making efforts to bring a planned international conference on Syria into fact, according to a letter from Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Lebanese caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Manour, which was conveyed by Russia's ambassador in Lebanon on Thursday. The United States and Russia have lately agreed to sponsor a new conference in Geneva by the end of May -- bringing to the table representatives of both the Syrian government and the opposition -- to make a fresh bid for peace. According to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency, Russian Ambassador Alexander Zasypkin said "we are making efforts to arrange a conference with the parties concerned. We still have to find solutions to some logistical issues related to the conference 's agenda, the number of participants, and the level of attendance and so on." "We have contacted the concerned parties, Arab and international ones, and we are still doing so," he said, while also speaking of the concern over the possibility of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's appearance at the meeting. Zasypkin meanwhile termed as unbalanced the UN position which held the Syrian authorities solely responsible for the ongoing crisis, while totally disregarding the opposition and the armed groups that are resorting to violence and terrorism.