GENEVA (Sputnik) — The departure of the Saudi-backed opposition delegation, which assumed an nonconstructive stance, is the main reason for the suspension of talks on the Syrian reconciliation in Geneva, Russia's envoy at the UN office in Geneva said Thursday.
"The reason for the suspension of the talks is the departure from Geneva of some of the oppositioners — those who were chosen at the opposition conference in Riyadh," Alexey Borodavkin told reporters.
"The government delegation also did not plan to leave," Borodavkin said.
Governmental delegation, instead, took a cooperative approach and reviewed the list of prisoners who should be liberated, which was proposed by the Riyadh-backed opposition group.
"Damascus did not even object to including in the opposition delegation leaders of Jaish al-Islam and Ahrar al-Sham groups, which the government considers terrorist organisations," Borodavkin said.