Glimmer of hope in 2015 for Syria – peace talks possible in Moscow in January

#Syria #peacetalks #BasharalAssad An official of the Syrian government has indicated that Syria was ready to take part in preparatory, advisory meetings in Moscow which could, in turn, pave the way to answer the aspirations of Syrians and help to find an exit from the present crisis.
This is against the backdrop of Russia's Foreign Ministry’s indication that it hoped to host peace talks after Jan. 20 between the Syrian government and its fractured opposition.
It may be recalled that the nearly four-year-old conflict has claimed over 200,000 lives, displaced a third of Syria's population, and nurtured an extremist group, the Islamic State, which now rules over vast swaths of Syria and neighboring Iraq.
Syrian state-run TV has remarked that the government is prepared to take part in peace talks hosted by Russia next month, and the scope of the negotiations would be limited to "preliminary" talks which could form a basis for a conference in Syria itself.
It is no secret that Russia is a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Hadi Bahra, the head of the Syrian National Coalition, the main Western-backed opposition group, has revealed that it had not yet taken any decision on the talks.
The Western-backed Syrian opposition has been insisting that any negotiated settlement should include the formation of a transitional governing body with full executive powers but this demand has been rejected by Assad's government.

Ukraine peace talks in Minsk called off

#Ukraine #PeaceTalks #Minsk #crimea It has been reported that a key round of peace talks between the government of Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels which was supposed to be held in Mink has been called off for reasons that have not been disclosed. This has been disclosed by an official of Belarus – no immediate reason was given by the Belarusian foreign ministry.
The talks had tried to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine that erupted with the annexation of Crimea by Russia and has left 4,700 dead. A ceasefire and framework peace deal had been announced in Minsk in September but neither of these has been properly observed.
These latest talks included Russia and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and there had been expectations that issues that would be addressed would be the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line, the exchange of prisoners and ending Ukraine's economic blockade of rebel-held areas.
A total of 4707 persons have been killed in the conflict that started in eastern Ukraine in April, and, out of that number 1357 have died since the 5 September ceasefire was agreed. It may be recalled that pro-Russian separatists had taken over the two eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk after Moscow annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in March. This action has not been recognized by either Ukraine or its allies.