The United Nations envoy on Syria, Staffan de Mistura, met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow Tuesday as he looked to lay the groundwork for peace talks expected to resume next week.
The visit came as the UN said the talks will likely restart in Geneva on April 11, but that regime negotiators would only arrive several days later, after the completion of parliamentary elections in the country.
"I plan to go to other locations, Tehran, Damascus, Ankara, Riyadh, in order to prepare better, but it's really important to start here in Moscow," de Mistura said at the start of the meeting.