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By Kamila Aliyeva

Russia stated on unacceptability for the Moscow group of Syria’s opposition not to be invited to the Geneva talks and has sent a signal to the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.

Lavrov noted that under UN Resolution 2254, the delegation of the Syrian government and all opposition groups, including the Moscow, Cairo, Riyadh and Astana groups, should be invited by the UN for this week’s talks in Switzerland’s Geneva, TASS reported.

"The fact that representatives of the Moscow group, namely Qadri Jamil (leader of the Popular Front for Change and Liberation) have not received invitation is regrettable," Lavrov stressed, thus sending a signal to De Mistura to draw his attention to the unacceptability of such discriminatory approach to forming the opposition’s delegation.

"Qadri Jamil did not say that he would not come but that he had not received the invitation," Lavrov said, adding that sending the invitation is not a "goodwill gesture but a commitment of our UN colleagues."

"I’m convinced that over the last several days before the talks they will be able and should fix the current situation," he said.

Lavrov also expressed his hope that the new team of the U.S. State Department will actively join the Syria peace effort as soon as it is formed.

During last week’s meeting in Germany’s Bonn with his U.S. counterpart Rex Tillerson Lavrov discussed the fight against international terrorism that is declared as a priority of the Donald Trump administration.

The sides agreed that "the formation of the new U.S. team in the Syrian direction" is rather important and representatives of the State Department and the White House are now actively dealing with this.

"As soon as this team is set up, I hope, it will actively join our efforts," Lavrov stressed.

Lavrov hailed the Astana initiative, through two rounds of meetings in the past two months, for "helping end the period of endless waiting on the part of UN colleagues".

Many experts highly assessed the results of Astana talks and the agreement between Russia, Turkey, and Iran on the establishment of a tripartite mechanism as a step to a political solution which might end the six-year war.

The U.S. side participated in the talks as observers and was represented at the ambassadorial level.

Meanwhile, the head of the Duma Committee on Defense, Vladimir Shamanov said that the coalition’s fight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria was not successful.

"This is not the first year when a coalition of countries led by the United States fights against ISIS in Iraq and Syria,” he said adding that during this time, the territory controlled by the Islamists even expanded.

The countries that have been fighting against Islamic State have their own reasons, but the fight is uncoordinated and as such has not been as effective as it could be.

“It is not an accident, taking into account quite motley coalition and various political interests of its members," Shamanov said.

Another round of UN-sponsored talks on Syrian reconciliation is expected to begin in Geneva on February 23, after a break of nearly ten months. De Mistura earlier said the crisis in Syria may be settled this year. He explained his optimism by the fact that the ceasefire in the country, announced in December, is being observed in general.

Armed conflict continues in Syria since March 2011. Government troops are confronted by militants of different armed groups. Russia has begun airstrikes on terrorist facilities in Syria since 30 September 2015. The Russian military involvement follows an official request from President Bashar Assad to President Vladimir Putin.

The UN has repeatedly tried and failed to end the Syrian conflict, which has killed 300,000 and displaced 11 million since its beginning 6 years ago.

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