VIENNA, Jan 27 (AFP): Syria's main opposition group on Friday said it would boycott Russian peace talks next week in a major blow to Moscow's diplomatic efforts towards resolving the brutal seven-year conflict.
"Russia has not succeeded in promoting its conference," the opposition Syrian Negotiations Commission (SNC) said on its Twitter account.
"The SNC has decided not to participate at Sochi after marathon negotiations with the UN and representatives of countries involved in Syria."
Dozens of rebel groups had already refused to join the talks in the Black Sea resort next Monday and Tuesday organised by the Syrian regime's powerful ally Moscow, and the question of whether the main opposition would attend has overshadowed two days of separate UN-backed peace talks in Vienna.
Those talks stretched late into Friday night, with both regime officials and the SNC meeting separately with UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura-who did not strike an especially optimistic tone after the gruelling negotiations.
As with eight previous rounds of failed UN-backed talks in Geneva, there was no sign that the warring sides had met face to face at discussions intended to lay the groundwork for a new post-war constitution.
De Mistura, speaking to reporters early Saturday, admitted there had been a disheartening lack of progress up until now in finding a solution for a war that has killed more than 340,000 people.
"I share the immense frustration of millions of Syrians inside and outside the country at the lack of a political settlement to date," he said.
With some 1,600 people invited to Sochi, the UN itself has yet to decide whether it will attend, de Mistura said, adding that this decision is being left to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
De Mistura stressed the legitimacy of the UN-led talks over Russia's parallel peace push, however, saying firmly that a political transition for Syria "is to be reached in the UN-led Geneva process".
