UPDATE - Lavrov: Syria talks in Geneva postponed

UPDATES WITH UN COMMENT

By Fatih Erel and Diyar Guldogan

GENEVA (AA) - Syria talks in Geneva scheduled for Feb. 8 have been postponed until end of February, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday despite the U.N. could not confirm the postponement.

"Once again, this date has been postponed from Feb. 8 to the end of the month," Lavrov was quoted as saying by Russia's official TASS news agency after a meeting in Moscow with Syrian opposition delegates.

After the Astana peace talks earlier this week, it was agreed to hold the next round of negotiations between the government and opposition in Geneva on Feb. 8.

Lavrov also criticized the UN's "passivity" deeming it "unacceptable".

"The special envoy [for Syria Staffan de Mistura] is heading to New York next week. He is going to discuss this issue with the secretary general [Antonio Guterres] and we will have a clear picture when he gets back," a spokeswoman for de Mistura, Yara Sharif said in a news conference in Geneva on Friday regarding Lavrov's comments.

"It is necessary to focus on certain issues in Geneva like work on [the Syrian] constitution," added Lavrov in Moscow.

Lavrov also described a Russian proposal of a draft constitution to opposition groups as an attempt to find "common" points between the opposition and the regime.

Lavrov said Russia did not have the intention to "impose" anything with the draft constitution.

He added Russia expected Syrians to work on the draft constitution via the Geneva talks.