Russia sets up Moscow meeting with Syrian opposition

By Diyar Guldogan and Hakan Ceyhan Aydogan

ANKARA

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will meet representatives of the Syrian opposition on Friday in Moscow.

The confirmation came from Russia’s Foreign Ministry in a Wednesday report carried by the country’s official TASS news agency.

It gave no further information or details about Friday's planned meeting.

The engagement will come three days after intra-Syrian peace talks in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana.

Russia, Turkey, and Iran agreed on establishing a trilateral mechanism to observe and ensure full compliance with a cease-fire in Syria.

After that meeting, opposition delegate Osama Abu Zaid told reporters their group had made proposals to Russia regarding the cease-fire enforcement mechanism.

The Astana talks, which focused on extending the cease-fire that came into effect in Syria on Dec. 30, included representatives of the regime, armed opposition groups, Russia, Turkey, Iran as well as UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura and U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan George Krol.

"The results of the Astana talks bring efforts to settle the Syrian crisis to a new level," Lavrov told the State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament.

Lavrov said Russia has increased its cooperation with Turkey, Iran, and other countries in the region to solve the Syrian crisis.

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the Astana talks a "success".

Peskov told reporters Wednesday that the Astana talks will support the Geneva negotiation process.

The next round of negotiations will be held between the government and opposition in Geneva on Feb. 8.