Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday that it is now the time not to convince the Syrian opposition with need to sit at the negotiation table, but to force them to do so.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday that it is now the time not to convince the Syrian opposition with need to sit at the negotiation table, but to force them to do so.

"Our partners think that it's time to start discussing a date (for the conference) and we are ready to start working for it even tomorrow, and the Syrian government has agreed to send a delegation since long time," Lavrov said at a joint news conference with his Egyptian counterpart Nabil Fahmy in Moscow.

Moreover, the Russian Foreign Minister stressed that Moscow is ready to host the leader of the opposition so-called Syrian National Coalition, stating:
"We are not just talking about the need of the opposition to accept the Russian-American initiative on convening the conference, but we are cooperating with the opposition and we virtually hosted the leaders of all opposition groups with the exception of the SNC, which received an invitation in this regard."

The Russian minister said that dialogue should be conducted with everyone, pointing out that the key to success in every crisis or impasse is to involve the parties and not excluding them.