Russia invites Egypt to Sochi summit meeting on Syria

By Aydoğan Kalabalik

CAIRO

Russia on Monday officially invited Egypt to a planned summit meeting in Sochi over the Syrian crisis, slated for January 28-29, according to Egypt’s Foreign Ministry.

"The Russian administration has invited Egypt to the Sochi Summit on the Syrian crisis,” Ahmed Abu Zeid, a spokesperson for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, said in a statement.

Zeid also said Egypt’s position on Syria "has been the same", underlining that his country supported a political solution which would meet Syrian people’s demands and promotes the territorial integrity of Syria.

On Dec. 22, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said all participants in Syria talks in Geneva would be invited to the Sochi gathering.

Turkey had vetoed the involvement of the PKK/PYD terrorist organization or any other related groups at "the Syrian National Dialogue Congress" in the Black Sea resort.

Alexander Lavrentiev, Moscow's envoy to Syria, had said he did "not foresee" a role for the terrorist group at next year's scheduled peace talks in Sochi.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million others displaced, according to UN officials.