Russia had offered to host unconditional informal talks between Syrian authorities and the opposition, its foreign ministry said Monday.

Russia hoped the move would help the Syrian parties discuss issues without restrictions in order to end the violence in the Middle East country as soon as possible, the ministry said in a statement.

"Due to the situation in Syria and our striving to contribute to a settlement of the conflict by peaceful means, we called on the Syrian authorities and all opposition groups to send their representatives to Moscow within mutually acceptable terms to hold informal contacts without any preconditions," the ministry said.

The Syrian authorities had agreed to the proposal and Moscow hoped the opposition will also give consent soon, it said.