Moscow considers it "unacceptable" to work out any settlements on the Syrian issue without the participation of representatives from Damascus, a senior Russian official said Wednesday.

Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov told reporters that a meeting of the "Friends of Syria" group was scheduled in Tunisia on Friday and another meeting of a narrow group of several Western and Arab countries was slated before that gathering.

"(This narrow group's meeting) supposingly will prepare some final document to be submitted to the wider meeting in Tunisia and the participants of that meeting would simply rubber-stamp the decision," Gatilov said.

"We consider such an approach absolutely unacceptable," he said, adding that no Syrian officials have been invited to Tunisia.

"That is, the discussion of the acute crisis situation in Syria is to be held without one of the key players, Syrian government," Gatilov said.

Meanwhile, Gatilov said that Moscow did not explore the options of its relations with new Syrian authorities in case President Bashar al-Assad would leave.

He added that Syria's future political configuration must be shaped by the Syrians themselves.

Moscow is "categorically against" any possible military action against Syria, Gatilov said, adding that Russia's stance on the issue has been understood by the majority of Arab countries' population.