By Mustafa Caglayan
NEW YORK
The United Nations said on Friday that it welcomes a Russian proposal to host peace talks between the Syrian government and the mainstream opposition to find a political solution to the country's ongoing civil war.
"We welcome any initiative that would reduce violence and help reach a political solution that would end the crisis in the war torn country," the UN Secretary-General's office told The Anadolu Agency.
The proposal anticipates dialogue to reach a solution based on the core elements of the Geneva Communique, which was issued on June 30, 2012, in the Swiss city of Geneva after a meeting of the UN-backed Action Group for Syria.
The communique called for an immediate end to fighting and the formation of a transitional governing body including members of the opposition and the government.
Mikhail Bogdanov, Russian deputy foreign minister and President Vladimir Putin's special presidential representative for the Middle East, had suggested that Syrian opposition figures meet in Moscow by the end of January before they hold talks with representatives of the regime, again in Moscow.
He met Syria's ambassador Riyad Haddad in the Russian capital on Wednesday to discuss the proposal.
Russia has been a staunch ally of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has repeatedly blocked UN action against his regime.
Hadi al-Bahra, head of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, is expected to pay a visit to Cairo on Saturday to discuss an Egyptian initiative for solving the crisis.
The initiative calls for the formation of a military council of 15 people with the aim of rebuilding the Syrian army and then forming a parliament-like body of 100 people to manage the transitional period in Syria, sources said.
The conflict in Syria that began in March 2011 has claimed nearly 200,000 lives, according to the UN.
The unrest created by the civil war paved the way for extremist movements such as ISIL to gain a foothold in the region.
Almost half of the Syrian population is now displaced with more than 7.6 million internally displaced people and as many as 3 million refugees in neighboring countries, the UN says.
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