Peace talks aimed at ending Syria’s seven-year war began Tuesday in Russia, despite heckling, boycotts and disputes over who should preside over the event.

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov’s opening speech at the two-day Syrian Congress of National Dialogue held in the Black Sea resort of Sochi was interrupted by heckling from Syrian delegates and cries of “Long live Russia!” The speech was delayed by two hours due to ongoing negotiations.

Reading a letter from Russian president Vladimir Putin, Lavrov said conditions were ripe for Syria to turn “a tragic page” in its history. Syrian delegates accused Russia of killing innocent civilians in their country. Russian state television footage of the event showed security guards ordering a man in the audience to sit down.

Critics of the Sochi Congress, which is backed by Turkey and Iran, accused Russia of trying to hijack the Syrian peace process from the United Nations and offering a solution that favors the government of Bashar al-Assad.

A Syrian opposition delegation that included members of the armed opposition who had flown in from Turkey refused to leave the airport upon arrival, saying it was boycotting the talks because of broken promises to remove the Syrian government emblem from the premises.

Artyom Kozhin, senior diplomat at the Russian Foreign Ministry, said Lavrov had spoken by phone with his Turkish counterpart prior to the meeting and promised that Syrian flags and emblems would be removed from the airport and the conference venue. Kozhin acknowledged that there had been complications.

The United States, France and Britain declined to attend the conference, deferring to a U.N.-led effort to end the civil war.

VOA’s Victor Beattie contributed to this report.
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