Syrian foreign minister to visit Moscow

Syrian president's adviser says delegation will have exchange of views on Vienna meeting and current situation

BEIRUT: Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem will meet on Wednesday with his Russian counterpart for talks in Moscow, an adviser to Syria's president told AFP.

"We will have an exchange of views on the Vienna meeting and the current situation," said Buthaina Shaaban, who will form part of the Syrian delegation holding talks with Russia's Sergei Lavrov.

The talks follow an agreement between world powers meeting in Vienna on an 18-month plan for Syria to create a transitional government, adopt a new constitution and hold new elections. The Vienna discussions did not include Syrian regime or opposition representation, but backers of both sides participated.

Shaaban said government allies Russia and Iran were working in the best interests of the Syrian people. "Russia and Iran are trying their best to bring the West in to understand what's going on in Syria but the West doesn't have the Syrian people as its top priority," she said.

"The Russians definitively understand what's going on in Syria. They are definitively serious and honest, when they say something they implement it," she added.

Moscow has been a staunch ally of President Bashar al-Assad since the uprising against his government that began with demonstrations in March 2011.

It launched air strikes in support of his forces on September 30. Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet on the Syrian border on Tuesday, saying the plane violated its airspace and had been warned.