UN envoy for Syria Pedersen to visit Russia next week

UN Secretary-General’s special envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen will visit Russia next week, acting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.

Pedersen also plans to visit Damascus, Lavrov said. “I expect that these talks and his upcoming trips and contacts with the Syrian leadership will help us determine the further schedule of the [Syrian] Constitutional Committee,” TASS quoted him as saying.

The minister also said that Syria should return to the Arab League after its exclusion in 2011. “Syria needs to return to the Arab family,” he added.