We would be ready to announce any day because our information is that the government is going to send a delegation and the main thing now is to make sure that the opposition participates and that the opposition is representative — not just one group of people who live outside Syria. We would like the opposition to represent the entire spectrum of the opponents of the regime, including the opposition which is active inside Syria, like the National Coordinating Committee, like the Supreme Council of Kurds.

Sergey Lavrov: Well, first, I believe the possible dates for the conference were announced by the Secretary-General of the United Nations during the General Assembly opening week. He consulted with us, the Americans, other members of the Permanent Five and he suggested to target mid-November. We would be ready to announce any day because our information is that the government is going to send a delegation and the main thing now is to make sure that the opposition participates and that the opposition is representative — not just one group of people who live outside Syria. We would like the opposition to represent the entire spectrum of the opponents of the regime, including the opposition which is active inside Syria, like the National Coordinating Committee, like the Supreme Council of Kurds. And this would be important for the conference to be really representative as the Security Council Resolution 2118 adopted on the occasion of Syria joining the Chemical Weapons Convention said. Because apart from the chemical disarmament, the resolution spoke about the need to convene the conference and to make sure that the full spectrum of Syrian society is represented. Therefore, the conference would be successful if the opposition manages to bring all those who would like change in Syria, to negotiate with the delegation from the government. 

As to the interviews which President Assad has been giving very generously in the past weeks, I do believe that a situation which we have to handle in Syria is assessed more and more in the same manner by us, by the Americans, by the Europeans, by the countries of the region. 

The situation is really deteriorating. The armed groups of the opposition are becoming split more and more. Recently there was news that some 13 field commanders said that they would not be taking orders from the Free Syrian Army and from the National Coalition, which is the political wing of the Free Syrian Army, as far as I understand. And they would create what they called a movement to introduce the Sharia law in Syria, and not only in Syria but in the adjacent areas. And then 40 more groups said they would be creating an Islamic Front. These people are moving closer to Al-Qaeda than to the Free Syrian Army, which is being portrayed as the secular armed opposition. So, the trend is in favor of the jihadists, radicals, among those who fight on the ground. 

And it is not only our conviction — it is the conviction of the Americans — that we cannot and must not talk to these people. We can only talk to those who opt for the sovereign, territorially integral, secular, multiethnic and multi-confessional Syria. And therefore — I come back to the beginning of my answer — it is of crucial importance to have the right mix of opposition groups represented at the conference. But, as the G8 leaders said in Lough Erne at the summit in June, we call all of them, all eight of them plus the European Union. They called upon the government and the opposition to join forces to fight the terrorists and extremists in Syria. I think it is a very important message which must not be overlooked. 

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