Russian Federation will not insist on keeping Assad in power in Syria

He did not say which opposition members might attend, but the invitation appeared to suggest a change in tone from Moscow, which has until now dismissed such groups.

“The meeting … will possibly be with the participation of government representatives”, Bogdanov said.

Also on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said his government’s goal in Syria is “to rebuff terrorists”.

“So far, then, this has not been a Russian fight against terrorism so much as an effort to preserve the Assad regime”, she said about Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that Moscow hasn’t obtained through diplomatic channels or other sources official any information from Washington about accusations that Russia is destroying civilian infrastructure, fighting the opposition instead of ISIS terrorist organizations and hitting undeclared targets, noting that the US Department of State evades answering these allegations.

In an e-mail to Foreign Policy, Pentagon spokesman Col. Patrick Ryder said there is “absolutely no correlation” between the number of US airstrikes against the Islamic State and the Russian intervention in Syria.

Lavrov spoke after meeting with United Nations Syrian envoy Staffan de Mistura, who was in Moscow after a visit to Damascus.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed hope Wednesday that a list of the so-called moderate Syrian opposition groups ready to sit down at the negotiating table would appear soon.

“As we accelerate our own work with Turkey and other like-minded partners to roll back ISIL in northern Syria, a collateral benefit could be the creation of a space where Syrian civilians are free from Assad’s barrel bombs, as well as ISIL’s atrocities”, she said.

Noting that a potential safe zone in Northern Syria would be “hugely complex and resource-intensive”, she said: “We continue to look at this”.

“The northern friend who came to Syria to provide military support recently [did so to serve] its interests”, said Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari.

On the battlefield, a newly-formed US-backed Syrian rebel alliance advanced against Islamic State (IS) in the northeast province of Hasaka on Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

“This test assured that the first time this mode of communication was used would not be during an unplanned encounter”, Davis said.

Aleppo was once Syria’s economic hub, but has been ravaged by years of fierce fighting.

Russian Federation has bombed all but four of Syria’s 14 provinces since it began its campaign.

The town is the frequent target of regime fire, with at least 70 people killed there in government attacks last Friday.