MOSCOW, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- A UN-backed intra-Syrian meeting in Geneva has been postponed to the end of February, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday, but the UN said it cannot confirm the date change.
"This date has been moved again from February 8 to the end of next month," Lavrov said at a meeting with Syrian opposition delegates days after a round of intra-Syrian talks in Astana, Kazakhstan, on a political settlement in the war-torn country.
"We believe that the passivity of our UN colleagues, who have not held any rounds of the talks since April 2016, is unacceptable," Lavrov added, according to an official transcript of Friday's meeting posted on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Rounds of Syrian peace talks have taken place in Geneva under the auspices of the UN but little progress has been made mainly due to continuous fighting in the Middle Eastern country.
Yet UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, who said last month that the Geneva dialogue will resume in February, cannot confirm or deny the postponement of the meeting.
"There is no confirmation that the February talks are postponed," the special envoy's spokesperson, Yara Sharif, told reporters.
"The special envoy is heading to New York next week and is going to discuss this issue with the UN secretary-general. We will have a clear image once he is back," he added.
