Moscow says U.S. complicates situation with holding international conference on Syria

The United States turns the situation upside down when reproaching Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for reluctance to participate in the international conference Geneva-2 without preliminary conditions, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.

"Deputy for the [U.S. State Department] spokesman has made another awkward statement that the difficulties in calling the Geneva 2 are allegedly related to the reluctance of the Syrian leaders, President Bashar al-Assad to participate in this forum without preliminary conditions. Such a statement is turning the entire situation upside down, to put in mildly," Lukashevich told reporters on Friday.

"The Syrian Authorities supported the Geneva communique of June 30, 2012 from the very beginning," the diplomat said. "The problem with organizing the calling of the Geneva 2 conference is namely that the opposition is not ready to participate in this forum and sets preliminary conditions for its involvement in the format, which are unacceptable for the Syrian authorities," Lukashevich said.

"Our U.S. colleagues, who told us repeatedly that they would pursue actively the participation of the Syrian opposition in the conference without preliminary conditions, are well aware of this," Lukashevich said.