Geneva talks should not set Syria govt makeup – Russia

Multilateral talks on UN envoy Kofi Annan's Syrian mediation plan should seek to secure a ceasefire but not determine in advance the shape of a possible government of national unity, Russia said on Thursday.

"The meeting in Geneva was intended to support Kofi Annan's plan and it must set the conditions for the end of violence and the start of an all-Syrian national dialogue, and not predetermine the contents of this dialogue," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a briefing. (Reuters)