Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will officials from Syria’s political opposition Friday, Moscow said, but it appeared representatives from armed opposition groups were not invited.

The meeting in Moscow comes after two days of Russian-brokered talks between the Syrian government and armed opposition representatives in Kazakhstan.

“We have invited on Friday all the opposition representatives from the political opposition that wish to come to Moscow and we will brief them about what happened in Astana,” Lavrov told lawmakers on Wednesday.

A spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry could not say which groups from Syria’s dizzying array of opposition — some of whom are dismissed by the armed opposition on the ground as not genuine — would be represented.

A negotiator from the armed opposition delegation that attended the Astana talks said they had not been invited to attend the meeting with Lavrov, but did not rule out heading to Moscow if they were asked.

“We did not receive an invitation,” Fares Buyush told AFP from Istanbul after the rebels left Astana.

“The problem isn’t the invitation, it’s the topic of discussion. If it’s serious and we’ll be discussing a national issue, we’ll go to the end of the world,” Buyush said.

Key players Russia, Iran and Turkey agreed in Astana to establish a joint mechanism to shore up a shaky three-week truce in Syria.

Source: AFP