Russia launches fresh bid to kickstart Syrian peace talks

Mr Brahimi held a flurry of talks in Damascus earlier in the week but has said little about them.

He met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Monday and has planned meetings with officials and dissidents.

Meanwhile in Moscow Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Makdad held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Kremlin envoy Mikhail Bogdanov.

Syrian sources said that Mr Makdad had been sent to Moscow to discuss details of a peace plan proposed by Mr Brahimi.

But foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich played down the idea that any specific new proposal was on the table.

"In our talks with Mr Brahimi and with our US colleagues, we are trying to feel a way out of this situation on the basis of our common plan of action agreed in Geneva in June.

"We plan to discuss a range of issues linked to a political and diplomatic settlement in Syria, including Mr Brahimi's efforts aimed at ending the violence and the launch of a comprehensive national dialogue."

The plan originally conceived by previous envoy Kofi Annan envisioned an open-ended ceasefire to be enforced by hundreds of UN monitors, followed by talks on a political transition.

It called for a transitional government, which could include Assad officials, the opposition and other groups, to oversee the drafting of a new constitution and elections.

Mr Brahimi called publicly today for the establishment of just such a government.

"The Syrian people seek genuine change," Mr Brahimi said in Damascus, adding that the transitional period "must not lead to the collapse of the state or state institutions."

But others were unenthusiastic.

A diplomat at the UN security council commented on Wednesday that the veteran Algerian troubleshooter had received no support from either side since arriving in Syria.

"Assad appears to have stonewalled Brahimi again, the security council is not even close to showing the envoy the kind of support he needs and the rebels will not now compromise," the diplomat said.