No deals over Syrian president's destiny: Russia

CAIRO - Visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov asserted Monday in Cairo that his country has not made any confidential negotiations or deals over the destiny of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, official news agency MENA reported.

At a mutual press conference with his Egyptian counterpart Mohamed Kamel Amr, Lavrov said "we are just concerned with the destiny of the Syrian people and decreasing their sufferings."

"It is impossible to reach this goal without stopping the violence, and the countries which haven't stuck to Geneva communique will be responsible for increasing the sufferings in Syria," Lavrov added.

According to the Geneva agreement reached by all world powers in June, a transitional governing body must be formed on the basis of mutual agreement between the Syrian government and the opposition.

Lavrov reiterated those who have a decisive effect on all parties should exert efforts to apply Geneva agreement, unite the opposition groups and sit on negotiation table with the Syrian government to discuss the transition period.

He noted some participants in Geneva tried to unite the opposition on the basis of continuous struggle rather than negotiations.

Lavrov arrived in Cairo Sunday evening to for his two-day visit to Egypt. He on Sunday night met with Secretary-General of the Arab League (AL) Nabil al-Arabi and UN-AL joint envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi, in a bid to crystallize a joint vision or new plan to solve the Syrian crisis.