German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier says there is no time to lose in agreeing upon a peace deal in Syria. Both he and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, also urged unity a day after the Brussels attacks.
"We are all aware ... there is no time to lose. Nobody, also none of the parties to the conflict, should try to run down the clock at this point," Steinmeier told a news conference in Moscow after meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The German minister stressed that a prisoner exchange was among the first items that would need to be addressed, before bigger issues were addressed at the Geneva talks. "In the end, there must be a solution that preserves Syria as a single, secular state," he added.
Steinmeier also called for unity in the fight against terrorism. "It is in our common interests to counter these common threats," he said.
Lavrov call for end to games
For his part, Lavrov on Wednesday called for Europe to unite behind efforts to fight terrorism and drop its "geopolitical games" in light of the attacks in Brussels that killed some 30 people.
"I really hope that Europeans, in the face of the terrible threat of terrorism that occurred yesterday in Brussels, will put aside their geopolitical games and unite to prevent terrorists from acting on our continent," Lavrov was quoted by Russian agencies as having told Steinmeier.
Lavrov also accused Turkey of hindering Kurdish militants in their fight against "Islamic State" (IS) militants.
The various meetings in Moscow are expected to touch on a partial, fragile ceasefire that was declared on February 27. The truce has raised hopes for an end to the five-year Syrian conflict, which has killed more than 270,000 people, forcing millions to flee their homes.
Kyiv 'stalling,' says Moscow
The Russian foreign minister said he and Steinmeier had also addressed the issue of Ukraine, insisting that the Ukrainian government was stalling on the issue. Lavrov said the German government had proposed holding elections in he occupied areas of eastern Ukraine, but that Kyiv had opposed the idea.
Fighting in the industrial heartland of Ukraine has killed more than 9,100 people and left large areas under rebel control. Talks to bring the situation to a peaceful resolution have been mediated by Germany, France and Russia in the Belarusian capital, Minsk.
US Secretary of State John Kerry was scheduled to arrive in Moscow later on Wednesday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov, with Syria expected to feature most prominently. Kerry was also scheduled to meet with Steinmeier for bilateral talks.
Syria's bloody anniversary
What started as a peaceful protest against the Assad regime has turned into a bloody civil war.
Image: Gaia Anderson
Act of defiance
After two years of an increasingly violent conflict it's hard to recall the simple act of defiance that triggered the Syrian revolution. In March 2011 a group of teenage boys were arrested and tortured after spray-painting the walls of a school in Dara'a. The simple slogan stated that President Bashar al-Assad would be the next Arab leader to be toppled after recent events in Tunisia and Egypt.
Image: Gaia Anderson
Displaced and destitute
As the Syrian conflict enters its third year, the number of people that have fled the country has surpassed the one million mark. More dramatically, the number of internally displaced inhabitants is estimated to be three million and growing. Cities and towns are being destroyed, as a consequence millions of people will have no homes to return to.
Image: Gaia Anderson
Streets of violence
International organizations have estimated that more than 50 percent of those fleeing the violence in Syria are children. The government's violent reprisals against the simple act of rebellion by the Dara'a teenagers in March 2011 sparked a revolution. The families that took to the streets peacefully demanding democracy met an onslaught of repression carried out by the army and regime thugs.
Image: Gaia Anderson
Taking up arms
The peaceful demonstrators demanding the removal of Bashar al-Assad and his regime have seen the streets of their own towns turn into battlefields. A disparate group of opposition fighters, made up mainly of armed civilians and army defectors, carries on fighting for an increasingly desperate cause.
Image: Gaia Anderson
Learning the hard way
The education of hundreds of thousands of children is threatened by the Syrian crisis. A recent UNICEF assessment found that "one fifth of the country’s schools have suffered direct physical damage or are being used to shelter displaced persons. In cities where the conflict has been most intense, some children have already missed out on almost two years of schooling."
Image: Gaia Anderson
Seeking solace
Turkey is currently home to nearly 300,000 Syrian refugees - two thirds of them live in government-funded camps that have schools, medical centers and supplies. The remaining third is divided among those that can provide for themselves or the more desperate that find refuge in improvised shelters often lacking basic supplies and medical treatment.
Image: Gaia Anderson
Anger over aid
A controversial debate over the distribution of humanitarian aid by the UN to the Syrian government, which the international assembly still recognizes as legitimate, has incurred the wrath of the opposition. Critics claim the UN aid is only reaching the population in need in government-controlled areas, while the Northern rebel-held territories are cruelly excluded from this humanitarian chain.
Image: Gaia Anderson
Common cause
A few independent non-profit organizations are bringing aid through the Turkish border regions to the rebel-controlled areas in Northern Syria. The humanitarian aid workers claim the amount of assistance they are able to provide is but a trickle in a crisis of devastating proportions.
Image: Gaia Anderson
Propaganda machine
Discrepancies on how humanitarian aid is being handled in the rebel-held areas are exacerbated by a flow of private donations to opposition military brigades acting independently. Large sums of money sent mainly by donors from Gulf countries are reaching opposition leaders accused of wanting to tighten their military and political grip rather than providing assistance to the population in need.
Image: Gaia Anderson
Out of reach
Save the Children, an international non-profit group working inside Syria, has claimed that "[…] access to the worst-affected communities is extremely difficult, and many are beyond our reach," underlining the point that humanitarian organizations lack the legitimized access required to be able to provide relief in all needy areas.
Image: Gaia Anderson
Abandoned and forgotten
Outcry over the United Nation's obligation to administer support through al-Assad's government adds to the growing chorus of outrage from Syrians who feel abandoned by the international community.
Image: Gaia Anderson
Emerging from the shadows?
The inability of the Syrian opposition to create a united political and military force and the largely ineffective international efforts to stop the humanitarian crisis are dramatic signs that the revolution-turned-civil war is far from any type of resolution.
