Russia's Lavrov heckled as Syria peace talks in Sochi crumble

A Russia-engineered peace conference aimed at bringing together warring factions in Syria has been fruitless, with the main opposition figures snubbing the talks and those who did attend walking out.

Posted 9:26 a.m. Jan 30, 2018 — Updated 9:26 a.m. Jan 30, 2018

Eyad Kourdi

and

James Masters (CNN)

(CNN) — A Russia-engineered peace conference aimed at bringing together warring factions in Syria has been fruitless, with the main opposition figures snubbing the talks and those who did attend walking out.

Opposition members who took part in the conference at the Black Sea resort of Sochi heckled Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday during his speech before the walkout, video posted online by the Foreign Ministry shows.

Organizers of the summit had hoped the talks would lead to a new draft constitution for Syria and bring an end to sanctions imposed on the state.

Russia is the most powerful ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government. Along with Turkey and Iran, it is pursuing its own peace process for Syria while the UN backs a separate plan.

Russia has faced questions over its role as peacemaker, and Western countries, including the US, France and Britain, have all boycotted the Russian-brokered talks and back the UN plan.

In a statement released Sunday, Nasser Al Hariri, who represents a separate umbrella group of Syrian political opponents as well as opposition fighters, said the High Negotiation Committee would not attend, instead maintaining a commitment to the UN-backed process.

Airport protest

Other Syrian opposition members based in Turkey staged a protest, refusing to leave Sochi airport on arrival when they saw pictures of the Syrian flag. The members delegated Turkey to represent them in the negotiations.

"The opposition delegation representatives came to Sochi from Ankara to push the peace process and to reach a serious political transition that turns Syria to a democracy and ensures that Syrians have their freedom and dignity in a peaceful environment throughout the country," Ahmad Touma, leader of the delegation, told reporters at the airport.

"But we were surprised that none of the promises made have been fulfilled. The barbaric shelling of civilians has not stopped. The regime flags were not removed from the conference banner and logo.

"We stayed at the airport refusing to enter under the regime flags and banners and due to the lack of diplomatic decency from the host country. This is why we have decided not to participate in the Sochi conference and are boycotting it and will be returning to Ankara."

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