Mr Lavrov said he welcomed the opportunity to have direct discussions with opposition figures "at this crucial time for Syria...."
Russia wanted to understand if there was a "prospect" of the deeply divided opposition factions uniting and creating a platform for dialogue with the government, he added. Earlier, Mr Lavrov's deputy, Mikhail Bogdanov, said he would "try to move the Syrian opposition figures towards realistic and constructive positions that can help end the bloodshed".
Syrian Kurdish opposition groups unite - July 12, 2012 - Syria's two main Kurdish opposition blocs said on Wednesday they would unite under one banner against embattled President Bashar al-Assad, following talks in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region.
The Kurdish National Council, an umbrella group of around a dozen parties, and the Western Kurdistan People's Council together announced the formation of the Supreme Kurdish Council, after a meeting that also included Iraq's Kurdish regional president Massud Barzani.
"We announce this good news to our Kurdish people in Syria and Kurdistan," they said in a statement issued Wednesday evening. "We have built the Kurdish house to unify our struggle between political factions."
Kurdish activist Abdel Basset Sayda was named on June 10 to lead the SNC, partly in a bid to gain the confidence of Syria's minorities.
SNC chief: Hezbollah should get ready for post-Assad period - June 21, 2012 - Leader of the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) Abdel Basset Sayda said Thursday that Lebanon’s Shia group Hezbollah should gear up for the post President Bashar al-Assad period in Syria.
“[Hezbollah] needs to get ready for the period that follows the departure of this [Syrian] regime,” Sayda told Voice of Lebanon (100.5) radio station.
Furthermore, Sayda told Voice of Lebanon that Christians were “part of our identity and we are proud of them.”
Putin: Syrians Should Be 'Forced' to Start Talks - July 9, 2012 - Russian President Vladimir Putin says that the Syrian government and opposition groups should be "forced" to start a dialogue. He spoke Monday, the same day a Syrian opposition leader, Michel Kilo, met with Russia's foreign minister.
Kilo, who heads the Democratic Forum opposition group, said that he hopes Russia will play a positive role in "finding a peaceful solution to our crisis."
Kilo, a Christian, left Syria for France soon after his first arrest in the early 1980s. He returned to Syria in 1991, and was arrested again in 2006 and jailed for three years after signing the Beirut-Damascus Declaration, urging Syria to recognize Lebanon's independence. He was released in 2009. Kilo led a delegation of Syrian opposition representatives from the Democratic Forum group at talks with Lavrov on Monday. - rian.ru