Russia postpones Sochi-based Syria talks

A Russian state news agency says Moscow is pushing back its own Syria talks between the government and opposition until next year.

RIA Novosti, citing an unidentified "diplomatic source," says the so-called "Syrian National Congress" will be held no earlier than January, and most likely in February, in Sochi.

Russia's military intervention in Syria's civil war two years ago turned the tide in President Bashar Assad's favor. It remains a key sponsor of the Damascus government and has shielded it against sanctions and interventions in the U.N. Security Council.

Russia's diplomats never set a date for the conference after spiking an initial plan to hold it on Nov. 18. But after President Vladimir Putin hosted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Nov. 22, there was speculation it would bring the Syrian government and a coalition of opposition groups for talks in Sochi in December, in parallel with U.N. talks between the two sides in Geneva.

Syria's government has said it will attend talks in Sochi. It has not committed to talks in Geneva, which are supposed to start Tuesday. The opposition says it prefers to meet the government under the auspices of the U.N