Russia UN envoy: Syria peace talks should not rest on Aleppo battle

Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin gave the warning on Tuesday following a closed door UN Security Council meeting.

"The lower the level of violence the better it is for the talks... but there must be no preconditions for the talks," he said.

During the meeting, Syria’s UN envoy Staffan de Mistura announced that attempts are being made to restart the negotiations in late August. The last rounds of talks fell through last April after foreign backed opposition groups left the negotiations, claiming that government forces were not abiding to a February US and Russia brokered ceasefire.

Churkin also called on countries that have influence over Syrian opposition groups to prepare them for the upcoming talks.

"They were coming to the talks without saying anything, they were just saying (Syrian President Bashar) 'Assad must go' and this is not a negotiating position," he added.

Over the last few days, fierce clashes have been underway in and around Aleppo between government forces and terrorists trying to end a siege on militant-held areas. The northern Syrian city has been divided since 2012 between government forces in the west and the militants in the east.

Churkin also stressed that Russia and the US are "very practically" discussing the manner of aid delivery to Aleppo, while noting that Moscow supports humanitarian ceasefires as long as they do not include terrorists.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. De Mistura estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

KD