Kerry blasts Syria's ceasefire offer as a diversion from peace talks

Secretary of State John Kerry warned Friday that the Syrian government would fail to divert next week's peace talks away from the aim of installing a new government in remarks responding to a proposal Syria presented Friday calling for a ceasefire in Aleppo and a preliminary plan that would lead to an eventual prisoner swap.

Earlier Friday, during a news conference in Moscow, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said he had handed his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, details of the ceasefire, plus plans for a prisoner exchange and the opening of humanitarian corridors in Syria.

"Taking into the account the role of the Russian Federation in ending the bloodshed in Syria, as well as our trustworthy relations, I have handed Minister Lavrov today a plan of security measures in Aleppo," Muallem said.

"In that regard I asked Minister Lavrov to use his contacts to implement this plan and to establish a specific time when all military actions in this area should be ceased."

But Kerry said the announcements were an attempt to divert Geneva II, the name of next week's peace talks, away from implementing the agreements laid down previously Geneva I.

"I'm not particularly, you know, surprised that he is trying to divert this. He's been doing this for months, trying to make himself the protector of Syria against extremists," Kerry said of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

Kerry also slammed alleged comments from the Syrian government that the Geneva II peace talks were a forum to discuss ways to combat the rise of terrorist groups plaguing the country.

Speaking Friday, Kerry said that the talks would only be successful if the Syrian government accepted a transitional government that led to the departure of Assad.

"I believe, as we begin to get to Geneva and begin to get into this process, that it will become clear that there is no political solution whatsoever if Assad is not discussing a transition and if he thinks he's going to be part of that future. It's not going to happen," Kerry said.

The offer from Muallem came hours before the main opposition bloc, the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), was due to decide whether it would participate in next week's U.N.-convened peace talks.

Washington and Moscow have been trying to negotiate confidence-building measures to force the two sides to the table at Geneva. The SNC has previously demanded the resignation of Assad before it commits to talks.

Haitham al-Maleh, a member of the opposition coalition, told Al Jazeera Friday that the group would not negotiate “with the regime” and only seeks its removal. 

Syria's centrist internal opposition group, the National Coordination Body, said Thursday that it would not attend, arguing that peace negotiations betray the founding principles of the coalition. 

Al Jazeera and wire services