Geneva, (AFP) - The United Nations asked Friday that the conflicts should not affect the Syrian talks in Geneva, which were forcibly halted by Russia, which appears to consider Switzerland no longer neutral since the war in Ukraine.

The ninth round of talks on drafting a new Syrian constitution was to be held from July 25 to 29 in Geneva, under the auspices of UN Special Envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen.

Pedersen's spokeswoman, Jennifer Fenton, told reporters in Geneva that the Syrian side "informed Mr. Pedersen that his delegation would not be ready to participate in the ninth session until after (...) the requests of the Russian Federation were met."

It did not elaborate on what the Russian demands were. Observers said that Moscow objected to the venue of the meeting, arguing that Switzerland was no longer neutral since it imposed sanctions on Russian officials following Russia's invasion of Ukraine this year.

Syria and Russia have been allies for decades, but relations have greatly strengthened in the wake of the Syrian conflict and Moscow's military intervention since 2015 on the side of the Syrian regime.

Pedersen briefed the UN Security Council on Thursday about the situation. He pointed out that the postponement of the meeting in Geneva is "unfortunate and frustrating, especially since it was caused by issues unrelated to the Syrian file," according to Fenton.

And she added, "He urged all parties to put in place a protective wall that would protect the Syrian process from the impact of conflicts taking place elsewhere in the world, and put the interests of the Syrians first."

The spokeswoman indicated that when proposing the establishment of the Constitutional Committee in 2018, one of its conditions was that "its meetings be held in Geneva without external interference."

At the conclusion of the eighth round of talks in early June, Pedersen declared that the talks had made little progress and "significant differences remained on some texts."

Since 2011, Syria has been witnessing a bloody conflict that has killed about half a million people, caused massive destruction to infrastructure and productive sectors, and led to the displacement of millions of people inside and outside the country.