Moscow, Dec 10 (IANS): Moscow is not holding talks with anyone over Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's future, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Sunday.
Speaking during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin's election agents, Lavrov said the priority to solve the crisis should be forcing all parties involved to lay down their weapons instead of talking endlessly about Assad's fate, Xinhua reported.
The minister reiterated Moscow's stance on Syria, calling for a Geneva meeting of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and the Arab League countries.
He also called for the full implementation of the Geneva communique as a basis for the political settlement of the crisis and complained that some of Russia's western partners had departed from former agreements.