MOSCOW - The situation around the international conference on Syria, or the Geneva-II conference, requires immediate intervention of the players who exercise influence on the country’s opposition, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday.

“The entire heap of problems appears due to the (Syrian) opposition that disintegrates into separate groups,” Lavrov told reporters after talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Leonid Kozhara in Russia’s southwest city of Rostov-on-Don.

He noted that each group possesses its own point of view, while armed groups declare independence from the National Coalition or even hint at their alliance with al-Qaida.Some extremists even threatened that Russia and conference organizers will be their “legitimate targets,” he added.“All this is shocking and unacceptable and those who fund and arm these opposition groups must be responsible in the long run,” said Lavrov, adding that each opposition group in Syria has its sponsor abroad.

“Everyone, including our American partners, knows this,” the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

Late on Saturday, leader of the Suqour al-Sham brigade Ahmed Eissa al-Sheikh, a Syrian opposition group, said 19 opposition groups had refused to participate in the Geneva-II meeting expected to be held at the end of November. (Xinhua)