UN chief Ban presses US, Russia to help ensure Syria peace talks can resume on Feb. 10

In this image provided by Edlib News Network (ENN), an anti-Bashar Assad activist group, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, anti-Syrian government protesters hold a banner during a demonstration at Kafr Nabil town in Idlib province, northern Syria, Friday, Jan. 31, 2014. (AP Photo/Edlib News Network ENN) (The Associated Press)

A Syrian demonstrator is wrapped in a Syrian flag carrying the picture of President Assad as they shout pro-government slogans during a demonstration outside the United Nations headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, Friday Jan. 31, 2014. The first face-to-face meetings between Syria’s warring sides in three years were wrapping up Friday, with a patient U.N. mediator struggling to build enough momentum for a more constructive second round to break through the deadly impasse. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus) (The Associated Press)

In this image provided by Edlib News Network (ENN), an anti-Bashar Assad activist group, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, anti-Syrian government protesters chant slogans as they hold a placard resembling U.S. President Barack Obama, right, and Syrian President Bashar Assad during a demonstration in Kafr Nabil town, Idlib province, northern Syria, Friday, Jan. 31, 2014. (AP Photo/Edlib News Network ENN) (The Associated Press)

The United Nations' secretary-general has pressed the U.S. and Russia to help ensure that peace talks aimed at stemming Syria's civil war can resume on Feb. 10 as proposed by the U.N. mediator.

A week of peace talks ended in Geneva Friday with no concrete progress and no immediate commitment from President Bashar Assad's envoys to return on the date suggested by mediator Lakhdar Brahimi.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Saturday he urged Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at a security conference in Germany "to use their influence to ensure the talks proceed as scheduled on Feb. 10."

He urged the warring sides to return to the talks "with more sense of earnestness as well as seriousness and urgency."