The demand for Bashar Assad’s resignation is aimed at disrupting the Geneva-2 conference, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

The demand for Bashar Assad's resignation is aimed at disrupting the Geneva-2 conference, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

"Those who say that it is worth waiting for the military balance to be established, or for a date when Assad will step down to be named, or put forward other preconditions are doing so with the unseemly purpose of hindering or disrupting the conference altogether," Lavrov said.

"We have a common stance, and we once again spoke with John Kerry, when we met in Geneva the other day, that the conference must be convened without any preliminary conditions," Lavrov stressed.

"We are guided by the Geneva communiqué, and UNSC resolution 2118, which supported the convening of the Geneva-2," Lavrov said. "These documents state that the full range of Syrian society and all sectors, including the opposition, should be represented at the negotiations. This is from where we should proceed."

"Everybody would prefer that the opposition was represented by a single delegation, but it primarily depends on the ability of all major opposition forces to agree on this and agree that this unity at the negotiations will be based on a constructive platform, on the platform of full implementation of the Geneva communiqué without any preliminary conditions," the Minister noted.

According to him, those "who tag this simple formula with some conditions, do not help to create the right atmosphere for a successful holding of the Geneva-2."

Lavrov added that fight against extremism in the Middle East region will depend on success of the international conference.

"We speak about unification of all sound forces in the fight against terrorism that tries to sprout in the region, using Syria's crisis," he said.

All groups of Syria's opposition Russia has had talks with express their intention to arrive in Moscow ahead of the Geneva-2 international conference on Syria, Lavrov concluded.

"We are discussing the meeting dates," he said. "All those groups we have had talks with express their intention to come to Moscow."

"Taking into account the date for the Geneva- conference (January 22), we still have some time to finalize dates for the Syrian opposition’s meeting in Moscow," Lavrov said.