UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has decided to send his envoy Staffan de Mistura to a peace conference in Russia next week, a UN spokesman said today, despite an opposition boycott. Russia had long sought UN participation in the Sochi conference aimed at advancing toward an end to the six-year war in Syria. Guterres "is confident that the congress in Sochi will be an important contribution" to reviving the peace talks held under UN auspices in Geneva, said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric. The UN spokesman indicated that Guterres had received assurances that the Sochi conference would not seek to sideline the UN talks. More than 340,000 people have died in the carnage, millions have fled their homes and the fighting has left the country in ruins.

Source: dna January 27, 2018 14:03 UTC