The man brokering the Syrian peace talks in Geneva is meeting Thursday with officials from Russia and the United States, as they focus on how to push forward a process that so far has achieved little success.
U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has brought the Syrian government and opposition together for negotiations this week, but wide gaps remain on the main goal of establishing a transitional government in Syria.
His discussions Thursday with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov and U.S. Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman are the latest in a series of meetings with the two nations that led the effort to convene the peace talks.
The opposition presented a plan Wednesday for the creation of a transitional authority and a cease-fire under U.N. monitoring, but Syrian officials dismissed the proposal.
The Syrian delegation has repeatedly said the negotiations must focus first on fighting terrorism and not a transition plan.
Meanwhile, diplomats at the United Nations have said Russia has offered counter proposals to a draft Security Council resolution on humanitarian aid for Syria.
Russia objected to the Western-Arab draft as one-sided against President Bashar al-Assad’s government, and said it would use its veto power to block the measure. Diplomats have said the five permanent members of the council will work to combine the draft ideas into a new document.