[AnNahar] Talks on ending the war in Syria began on Monday in Moscow but the absence of key opposition groups meant there was little hope of progress in resolving the conflict.Syria's ambassador to the United Nations
...boodling on the grand scale...
, Bashar al-Jaafari, is heading the government delegation for the meetings with members of the domestic "tolerated" opposition, the National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change (NCCDC).
But the main Western-backed exiled Syrian opposition National Coalition stayed away, and another leading domestic opposition activist remains under a travel ban from Damascus.
The discussions, which run until April 9, are expected to focus on humanitarian issues and plans for future talks, while also serving as a way for Russia, a main backer of the Syrian regime, to build its profile as a potential mediator in the conflict.
A source in the Syrian government delegation told AFP that the opposition would spend Monday and Tuesday meeting with Russian mediators before the two sides sit down together Wednesday.
"The main idea this time is to agree on a precise agenda for further negotiations," the source told AFP.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov played down hopes for any breakthrough saying Moscow was disappointed by the decision of National Coalition not to attend.
"We are not setting any final deadlines given that so much blood has been shed in Syria and that there have been so many false starts in this process," Lavrov said.
The talks follow a similar round of meetings between the government and officially tolerated opposition in Moscow in late January that failed to make any concrete progress towards resolving the deep-rooted conflict.