Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennadiy Gatilov said that a UN Security Council resolution on the Syria reconciliation process should be agreed on later on Friday.

A UN Security Council resolution on the Syria reconciliation process should be agreed on later on Friday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennadiy Gatilov told reporters.

"Yes, it will be," Gatilov said when asked if a resolution will be reached on Friday.

Drafted by the five permanent members of the Security Council, the resolution is expected to adopt the draft later on Friday in hopes of bringing an end to Syria's five-year civil war. It reportedly includes preperations for a ceasefire monitoring mechanism within 1 month of the resolution's adoption.

The resolution also contains previously agreed upon terms for a transitional government, with elections to be held under UN supervision, according to RIA Novosti.

Talks with the Syrian opposition will be held in early January.
"There is a common wish that the meeting should take place sometime in early January," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, according to RIA Novosti. "At least, such a dateline was generally suggested."


US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power is currently phoning the remaining members of the 15-nation body to discuss the details, according to Reuters. A final vote is scheduled for 4 PM, local time.

Lavrov said he expects the draft to respect the Syrian peoples' right to decide the future of their country.

Lavrov also said that there is a desire that a meeting of the Syrian opposition and a delegation of the Syrian authorities will take place in early January, according to RIA Novosti.

There had been doubt earlier that an agreement would be reached.

"I'm not sure it's going to happen because there are some unfortunately deliberate, or not deliberate, attempts to undercut the Vienna documents and we don't want to see that," Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters on Thursday.

Talks held in Riyadh between Syrian opposition groups were also a cause for concern, with some questioning the legitimacy of the meeting and raising the possibility that more radical elements of the opposition may have infiltrated the discussions.

By Sputnik