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| Russia invites US to Syria talks in Astana – Lavrov | Russia invites US to Syria talks in Astana – Lavrov |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Russia has already invited the United States to take part in the upcoming talks on Syria, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the press. | Russia has already invited the United States to take part in the upcoming talks on Syria, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the press. |
| "As I said yesterday, we have already invited [the US]," Lavrov told journalists in Moscow on Thursday. | "As I said yesterday, we have already invited [the US]," Lavrov told journalists in Moscow on Thursday. |
| US officials have been invited to the international meeting on the Syrian settlement which will be held in Kazakh capital Astana on Monday, January 23. | US officials have been invited to the international meeting on the Syrian settlement which will be held in Kazakh capital Astana on Monday, January 23. |
| “We think it would be the right thing to invite the representatives of the UN and the new US administration to the meeting,” Lavrov had said on Wednesday, at a press conference summing up the results of Russian foreign policy in 2016. | “We think it would be the right thing to invite the representatives of the UN and the new US administration to the meeting,” Lavrov had said on Wednesday, at a press conference summing up the results of Russian foreign policy in 2016. |
| Thursday's announcement comes despite recent statements by Iran, which strongly objects to US participation at the Syria talks. | |
| “We are opposed to a US presence [in Astana]. We have not invited them [US], and we are against their presence,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was earlier quoted as saying by the Tasnim news agency. | |
| Russia, however, hopes that the incoming Trump administration will accept the invitation. | |
| “We’re counting on the new [US] administration accepting this invitation and being represented by experts on any level they consider possible. It will be the first official contact during which we could begin discussing stepping up the efficiency of fighting terrorism in Syria,” Lavrov said on Wednesday. | |
| Meanwhile, Syrian President Bashar Assad has said the peace talks in Astana will focus on achieving a ceasefire and allowing rebel groups to reach “reconciliation” deals with the government. | |
| “So far, we believe that Astana will be about talks with terrorist groups over a ceasefire and allowing them to reach reconciliation deals,” Assad said in an interview with Japanese media outlet TBS, parts of which were published on the president’s Twitter feed on Thursday. | |
| Assad said he hoped the conference in Astana would be a platform to discuss “everything” with opposition groups, but noted it was too early to say whether the meeting would include political dialogue “because it is not clear who will participate." | |
| The Syrian leader also expressed hope that the incoming US administration was sincere when it announced the intention to create a unified coalition against terrorism. |