Next Astana format meeting on Syria is scheduled for spring — Russian diplomat

The next international meeting on Syria in the Astana format is planned for this spring, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin told reporters on Thursday.

“A high-level meeting, I think, [is due] in spring,” he said, answering to a question from TASS.

According to the Russian diplomat, preparations for the summit of Astana guarantor nations (Russia, Iran and Turkey) are still on the agenda.

“It [the summit] remains on the agenda,” he said. “The work within the Astana format remains efficient and productive.”

Senior Assistant to Iranian Foreign Minister for Special Political Affairs Ali Asghar Khaji told TASS on the sidelines of an international meeting on Syria earlier that Iran, Russia and Turkey had agreed to hold a summit in Tehran in February or March 2022 depending on the coronavirus situation. The Iranian diplomatic official also said that the summit would be preceded by a meeting between the three countries’ top diplomats, slated for January or early February 2022. The diplomat also said a meeting of foreign ministers will be held in the run-up to the summit, and is likely to take place in January or early February.

Later, Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentyev confimed plans to hold the summit in Tehran in early 2022. In his words, the agenda of the Astana format summit will be aimed at achieving a more tangible progress in efforts to resolve the crisis in Syria.

The previous Astana format meeting was held in Kazakhstan’s capital Nur-Sultan on December 21-22, 2021.

TASS