Russian delegation meets Assad in Damascus

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW

A Russian delegation led by the country's special envoy for Syria, Alexander Lavrentyev, met Syrian regime leader Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Sunday.

According to a statement released by the Russian Foreign Ministry, the two sides discussed the results of the four-nation Istanbul Summit which took place on Oct.27.

They also discussed issues pertaining to the establishment of the constitutional committee, the statement said.

The Istanbul Summit, hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel French President Emmanuel Macron, called for a constitutional committee on Syria for free and fair elections in the war-torn nation.

Russian and Syrian participants of the talks agreed to continue their works for removing obstacles on the track of forming the committee, it added.

Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity.