Moscow finishes preparations to host the next Astana tour

Moscow has finished its preparations to host a new round of talks within the framework of the Astana process that will start next Tuesday, in the presence of representatives of the countries guaranteeing the ceasefire in Syria (Russia, Turkey and Iran).

Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper quoted a Russian source as saying that two delegations representing Lebanon and Jordan will participate in this tour, in addition to a delegation from Iraq, which received an invitation to attend recently, as well as the International Red Cross and the international envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen.

During his visit to Russia, Pedersen is expected to hold a round of talks with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, before heading later to Tehran and Damascus in a tour that precedes a new briefing in the Security Council on the Syrian file.

According to the Russian source, the files of “humanitarian problems, mechanisms of aid delivery and distribution, and the field situation in more than one region of Syria,” will have priority discussion within the framework of this round.

Iraq announced yesterday that it had received an official invitation from Russia to participate in the upcoming Astana round of negotiations.