International envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is to meet Russian and US officials in January to discuss ways to end the conflict in Syria, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said Friday according to dpa. Brahimi will head to Moscow Saturday for a meeting with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. He will press Russia on a transition plan for President Bashar al-Assad by 2014 to end the conflict that opposition activists say has claimed more than 45,000 lives. "We will listen to what Lakhdar Brahimi will tell us about the current situation in Syria, and will make a decision on a 'triple-B'meeting," Bogdanov told RIA Novosti news agency, referring to himself, Brahimi and US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns. Russia has also invited Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, head of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, for discussions, Bodanov said. But Lavrov reiterated Russia's disappointment that the opposition's "political statement contains as a major objective overthrowing of the regime and rejection of a dialogue," according to the Itar Tass news agency.
