Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov slammed the sponsors of the Syrian opposition, saying they only hand in mind replacing the Syrian government. He also stressed that Geneva II has no “artificial deadlines”.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov slammed the sponsors of the Syrian opposition, saying they only hand in mind replacing the Syrian government. He also stressed that Geneva II has no “artificial deadlines”.

Russia has the impression that, in persuading Syria's external opposition to join the Geneva II conference, its sponsors had only the replacement of the regime in mind, Lavrov said at a press conference after talks with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Moscow on Friday.

"They are prepared to discuss other issues, in the first place, the fight against terrorism, only after the creation of a transitional body, because 'in the field' government troops are confronted with the armed opposition," he said.

Lavrov added that the Syrian government was prepared to discuss the implementation of the Geneva communique in full.

"When the Russian-American initiative was announced, it was said clearly that these negotiations should not have any artificially set time parameters, or any artificial deadlines.”

"It is being said today that any further talks are pointless because the [Syrian] government does not want to agree on the composition of a transitional ruling body. We are going in circles. I have already explained why such an approach can hardly be called logical and constructive,” the top Russian diplomat said.