Despite the escalated violence in Aleppo, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov believes a truce could soon be established there. He has been in talks with the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura in Moscow. De Mistura said the faltering truce in Syria must be "brought back on track".
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says a ceasefire in Aleppo could be reinforced quickly - after fighting which has seen more than 250 people killed in a week.
Lavrov said, "now the Russian and the U.S. military finalise agreements on a ceasefire regime in the city of Aleppo. I hope that in the nearest future, probably in the next few hours, such a decision will be announced."
The United Nations, Russia and the US have been working towards a deal to include Aleppo in the so-called 'regime of calm'. But Russia's Foreign Minister says moderate opposition groups must separate themselves from Al-Nusra, which has been declared a terrorist organisation by the UN and leave areas where the jihadists were being targeted.
Staffan de Mistura says that would be a major boost for peace efforts.
"If, as we all hope, there will be some type of confirmation that even Aleppo will be returning into a cessation of the hostilities status, than one could imagine, all us meanwhile will be restarting and pushing also for the humanitarian access and for the inter-Syrian talks. Everything is connected. Nothing is a condition. But everything is connected," said Mistura.
According to analysts, Moscow is very interested in seeing the Geneva peace talks resume.
"We don't expect that it will go smoothly because of internal difficulties existing inside Syria, our disagreements with Saudi Arabia and the United States on the Syrian issue. But the main thing is not to break down the negotiation process," said Andrey Fyodorov, political analyst.
Diplomatic efforts are being made by the UN, Russia and the US to contain the bloodshed in Syria. Staffan De Mistura's visit to Moscow comes a day after he held talks with the US Secretary of State John Kerry in Geneva. But whether any of these efforts will lead to success remains far from clear.
