The decision announced by the foreign ministry of Kazakhstan to cancel the Astana platform for the talks on Syrian settlement was unexpected for the participants of the process, said Russian Presidential Special Envoy Alexander Lavrentyev at a press conference following the 20th international meeting on Syria in the Astana format.
"Frankly speaking, it was somewhat unexpected for us today - it is an initiative proposal of the foreign ministry of Kazakhstan that they considered the Astana platform sufficient and apparently expect us to find another platform to hold these meetings," he said.
The Russian representative paid attention to the fact that the decision of Kazakhstan's leaders to close the Astana venue will not stop the negotiation process. According to him, the next, 21st international meeting on Syria in the established format will be held in the second half of 2023. "There is no mention of Astana [as a possible venue for such a meeting] in the joint statement," he pointed out. - "I think that the leadership of our guarantor countries (Russia, Turkey, Iran - TASS) will consider this proposal and agree on the venue of the next meeting".
Lavrentyev reminded that the concept of "Astana format" has a conditional character and is used only because "Kazakh partners agreed to hold the first meeting in January 2017 in Astana," for six and a half years, and then showed the unfailing hospitality. "This format could be called the Moscow format if it happened in Moscow, or the Beirut format if it happened in Beirut," he explained. - "The format itself is a three-country format with observers from neighboring countries and international organizations, and it's not about the name, it's about the fact that this format exists and will continue to exist."
About roadmap
Holding a summit of Russia, Syria and Turkey will be discussed after the work on the roadmap on normalization between Ankara and Damascus is completed, Lavrentyev said.
"Now we are working on the roadmap, and the work is quite dense, quite intense. As soon as the work is over its results will be reported to the presidents of our countries for further decision on holding a meeting between Presidents of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Syrian Arab Republic Bashar al-Assad with the participation of guarantor countries' presidents," Lavrentyev said.
The special envoy of the Russian president noted that the process of Syrian-Turkish normalization is stepping up every month.
GSV "Russia - Islamic world"
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Based on materials from TASS