Interview by the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, to the NTV TV channel summarizing the results of his participation in the International Conference on the Syrian Peace Process, Geneva-2, Montreux (Switzerland)

Question: Part of the Syrian opposition is becoming more and more radical, now it is about hard military Islamism. Are you worried about these trends? Should we involve this, the most radical part of the opposition, inthe negotiation process?

Sergey Lavrov: I do not think that there can be any talks with terrorists. We refuse to negotiate with them, based on principled considerations and we do not advise others to do so. We are not the only ones who are concerned that extremists and terrorists "call the tune", in different regions of Syria, more and more, all the G8 is concerned about this.

In June 2013, at the summit in Lough Erne in Northern Ireland, nobody else except the G8 President at that time David Cameron, proposed, although all the other participants including the President of Russia Vladimir Putin supported him, including inthe final declaration, the appeal to the government and the opposition to combine their efforts to eradicate terrorism in the SAR. This task is certainly gaining more and more priority, taking into account the scale of the terrorist threat in Syria which is already spreading into Iraq as well. Bandits from the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant are masters and organise terrorist attacks there.

Our goal is to reach some political consent between the government and the sane, laic, patriotic opposition as soon as possible, and, in parallel to the political settlement, to help them combine their efforts to fight these terrorists. I do not see a place for structures like Jabhat al-Nusra, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and other derivatives of Al-Qaeda in the negotiation process.

We have many questions about the recently created structure named the Islamic Front, which includes two or three organisations which participated directly in the massacre in the region of Adra. We can hardly imagine one or another such structure as a partner in peace talks. Militants move between the Islamic Front, Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, like blood in connected vessels: they go where they are paid more. It is evil to state that we can talk to a militant as soon as he gets to the Islamic Front.

It is important for the political process to be accompanied by an association of healthy forces, which think about their homeland rather than the creation of a caliphate in the Middle East or in North Africa, to combine their efforts using different means and help them fight terrorism. This is the task for the entire region and for the entire world.

Question: The conference in Montreux on the 22 January was called a ceremonial conference in the hope of inter-Syrian talks. It is clear that there will be no large breakthroughs. But what are the small, tiny steps, which we can hope to see?

Sergey Lavrov: I have already said that, first of all, it is a step-by-step resolution of the humanitarian issues: supply of aid, unblocking of the populated areas which are surrounded by forces of the government or forces of the opposition, and ideally exchange of captives, of course. All this will build up trust and affect the atmosphere at the negotiations in Geneva. It is hard to make any further guesses, the situation is very complicated, positions are polarised, and emotions are extreme. I hope that the fact that the parties were able to openly display their emotions at the meeting on the 22 January, will allow them to have a more business-like inter-Syrian dialogue.