Staffan de Mistura

Outgoing UN envoy Staffan de Mistura met with Syria's top diplomat in Damascus on Wednesday, the UN and state media said, to try to make progress on a post-war constitution.

U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura

 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura will hold talks in Moscow on Thursday about the latest situation in Syria, the RIA news agency reported on Wednesday, citing an unnamed diplomatic source.

Turkey has urged the U.N. Special Representative for Syria Staffan de Mistura not to invite any representative from the Democratic Union Party (PYD) to the committee that will be formed to establish a new constitution for Syria.

U.N.-brokered peace talks with the Syrian government and opposition began in Vienna on Thursday, days before Syria's close ally Russia was due to host separate negotiations to end the war.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's negotiating team is set to arrive in Geneva on Sunday to participate in peace talks, Syria's state news agency SANA reported on Thursday, quoting a foreign ministry source, reported Reuters.

The United Nations hopes for "serious negotiation" between the government and a still-to-be-formed unified Syrian opposition in October or November, the U.N. Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura said yesterday.

The United Nations still has a "million questions" about a Syria deal struck last week by Russia, Turkey and Iran, with aid convoys almost totally stalled despite a reported reduction in the fighting, a U.N. aid official said on May 11.

U.N.-backed Syria peace talks resumed in Geneva on March 23, with little hope of a breakthrough as no concessions were unlikely.  

The United Nations deputy Syria envoy Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy met government negotiators at a high-end hotel in the Swiss city, before heading to another hotel to see the opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC).  

U.N. Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria Staffan de Mistura will be in Ankara on March 23 to hold talks with the Turkish Foreign Ministry's undersecretary.