Syria cease-fire possible 'if Turkey seals border'

Shutting down smuggling across the Turkish-Syrian border is a condition for halting Russia's bombing campaign in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said as peace talks in Geneva began to encounter more difficulty.

It will be difficult to impose a cease-fire unless Syria's border with Turkey is secured to prevent smuggling and the movement of fighters, he said.

"Regarding a cease-fire, we have pragmatic ideas, we talked with the Americans who head the Syria support group, and we look forward to discussing these ideas at a meeting on Feb. 11," Lavrov said Feb. 3 in Muscat, referring to the International Syria Support Group that is due to meet in Munich on Feb. 11.  

Russia has accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an and his family of helping the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) through illegal oil trading, claims Ankara has strongly denied.

Lavrov said Russia would not stop its air strikes on Syria until terrorist organizations, like ISIL and al-Nusra, were defeated. 

"Russian strikes will not cease until we really defeat terrorist organizations like al-Nusra. And I don't see why these air strikes should be stopped," Lavrov was quoted as saying by Reuters. 

Lavrov's comments came at a time when the Syria peace talks in Geneva have become troubled as the Syrian government denied formal talks had begun and the opposition canceled a second meeting with U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura following intense Russian air strikes.

One day after declaring that the talks in Geneva were still "in a preparatory phase" - contrary to de Mistura's words on Feb. 1 stating the peace talks had officially started - the Syrian government's delegation chief, Bashar al-Ja'afari, said the...