Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Muallim dismissed as politically motivated last week's press disclosures, attributed to unnamed diplomats linked to the UN watchdog.

BBC: Syria nuclear clues 'not damning'

With both the Syrian Foreign Minister, Walid al-Muallim, and Mr Khatib himself at that time about to go to Moscow, his opposition colleagues clearly feared - and the Russians hoped - that he might somehow get drawn into a dialogue of some sort with Damascus, with no knowing where it might lead.

BBC: Rome talks unlikely to break Syria conflict deadlock