Russia expects UN peace talks on Yemen to re-start quickly

Russia's UN envoy has said he expected UN-brokered peace talks on Yemen to re-start quickly and warned that sending ground forces to Yemen would be a reckless escalation.
Ambassador Vitaly Churkin yesterday said he received assurances from Saudi and Qatari envoys that a meeting planned in Riyadh for May 17 will help pave the way to UN talks.
"They assured me that the meeting planned by President Hadi in Riyadh is not going to be an effort to replace the UN track. It might even help to resume the UN talks," Churkin told reporters.
"What we hope will happen is, very quickly, a quick cessation of all hostilities in Yemen and a resumption of those conversations," he said.

Hopes for an easing of fighting were buoyed when Saudi Arabia proposed a five-day humanitarian ceasefire yesterday.
A Saudi-led coalition launched an air war on Yemen six weeks ago to push back an offensive by Shiite Huthi rebels that forced President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to go into exile.