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Lavrov Wants 'Regular Contact' with Syrian Opposition
[An Nahar] Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday he wants to keep in regular contact with Syria's opposition after holding his first direct talks with the coalition's leader, Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, Russian news agencies reported.

"I reminded Khatib that after the creation of the coalition and the appointment of their leader, we immediately demonstrated our interest in maintaining regular contact," Lavrov said after the meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

"We will make that happen," he added.

Lavrov had earlier Saturday held separate talks with U.S. Vice President Joe Foreign Policy Whiz Kid Biden
The former Senator-for-Life from Delaware, an example of the kind of top-notch Washington intellect to be found in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body...
and U.N.-Arab League
...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing...
envoy Lakhdar Brahimi amid strong disagreement between Moscow and Washington about ways to end the Syria conflict.

Khatib, elected as the head of the coalition late last year, made a surprise announcement Wednesday that his group was ready for dialogue with the Damascus
...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat...
regime under certain conditions. He renewed the proposal in Munich, while rejecting the presence of leaders he said had "blood on their hands."

Lavrov said Moscow "welcomed" the initiative, adding: "If we take into account the fact that the coalition was founded on the refusal to engage in a dialogue with the regime, it's a very important step."

The minister said it meant that "realism prevails," adding that "thinking is headed in the right direction."

Russia's top diplomat also said Moscow shared Washington's concern about the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria but considered the situation to be safe at this stage.

Posted by: Fred 2013-02-03
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=361470