GENEVA
UN-Arab League Joint Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi will meet US and Russian officials on preparations for the second Geneva conference on Tuesday.
Russian deputy foreign ministers Mikhail Bogdanov and Gennady Gatilov and US Under Secretary of State Wendy R. Sherman are expected to attend the meeting, which would focus on determining the date, framework and participating countries.
Geneva-II conference comes at a time of decreased diplomatic hopes about finding a solution to Syria issue as last week's G-8 summit could not change Russia's position on Assad's leaving power.
Following the G-8, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, "US should choose between supporting the opposition and supporting the Geneva meeting", Saturday's "Friends of Syria" summit in Doha agreed on supplying the opposition with arms.
The conference was decided after US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart met on May 7, and on June 5 Brahimi had announced the conference to be held on July rather than June.
