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 The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, told
reporters that the five veto-wielding council members did not yet
have an agreed draft to present to the 15-nation body for approval
on Friday.
Originally, Western powers hoped the council would rubber-stamp a
resolution endorsing a two-year road map for talks between Syria's
government and opposition on a unity government expected to begin in
January and eventual elections. Council diplomats said they hoped
agreement on a text could be clinched.
The road map, which also calls for a nationwide ceasefire that would
not apply to Islamic State, Nusra Front and some other militant
groups, was worked out in two rounds of ministerial talks in Vienna.
Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin suggested there were significant
disagreements among the five powers.
"I'm not sure it's going to happen because there are some
unfortunately deliberate, or not deliberate, attempts to undercut
the Vienna documents and we don't want to see that," he told
reporters without elaborating.
 When asked what the problems were, he said: "There are a few."
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said there was "some
movement" in the talks on Syria, adding that one goal of the New
York meetings was to clarify the timeline for peace talks between
the government and opposition.
Foreign ministers from more than a dozen countries - including
Russia, the United States, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran and other
European and Middle Eastern powers - were set for talks aimed at
ending Syria's old civil war at New York's Palace Hotel on Friday.
Diplomats said no breakthrough was expected.
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Earlier this week diplomats said some progress had been made on the
most difficult sticking point in the talks - the fate of Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad.
They said Russia had indicated it had no problem with the eventual
ouster of Assad at the end of a transition period, though it would
not admit that publicly.
Despite the narrowing of differences, disagreements remain, as shown
by the difficulties the five permanent council members were having
agreeing on a resolution endorsing the Vienna road map.
Issues to be discussed at Friday's meeting include a mechanism for
monitoring of any future ceasefire and a lineup for an opposition
delegation to negotiate with Assad's government.
Western officials say a recent meeting in Saudi Arabia of opposition
figures made significant headway in coming up with an opposition
bloc.
(Additional reporting by Louis Charbonneau, Parisa Hafezi, Sabine
Siebold and Arshad Mohammed; Writing by Louis Charbonneau; Editing
by Leslie Adler)
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