The Syrian government of embattled President Bashar al-Assad has agreed in principle to attend an international peace conference jointly proposed by Russia and the United States, media reports said on Friday.
The big powers-mooted summit is expected to take place in the Swiss city of Geneva, but no date has been set yet.
"We note with satisfaction that we have received an agreement in principle from Damascus to attend the international conference, in the interest of Syrians themselves finding a political path to resolve the conflict, which is ruinous for the nation and region," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.
Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad who was in Moscow for talks with Russian leaders had said on Wednesday that the government would soon decide whether to attend the conference aimed at bringing government and opposition representatives together for talks.
The Opposition Syrian National Coalition, which is currently meeting in the Turkish city of Istanbul to discuss an interim government, has made it clear that it will attend the conference only if Assad steps down as President.
But a senior member of the Syria's main opposition, Louai Safi, told Al Jazeera that the announcement had been made in Moscow, rather than in Damascus. "We want to hear the spokesperson of the Syrian government making that statement with clarity," he said.
Even though a broad agreement aimed at forming a transition government in Syria was reached at the first Geneva meeting in June last, it was never implemented because of disagreements over Assad's role in the new government and neither side's refusal to stop fighting.
According to the U.N., more than 75,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed and nearly three million displaced and driven refugees to neighboring countries since the a rebellion against the Assad regime in Syria broke out in March, 2011. International efforts to find a solution to the Syrian conflict failed because of deep divide in the U.N. Security Council as Russia and China were opposed to the overthrow of Assad, while the West wanted him to step down.
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