The United Nations special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, arrived in the Kazakh capital of Astana this morning, to take part in the next round of Russian-backed talks, scheduled to start tomorrow, which aims to implement a nation-wide cessation of hostilities between the warring parties in the war-torn country, as well as laying the ground work for a political process that would bring an end to the Syria conflict.
“Today (we) are having bilateral meetings. So we’ll meat everyone in order to be better prepared for tomorrow, so I am not making any further comments except that today is the day for bilateral meetings with every observer and delegation,” said de Mistura
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier this week that Moscow was ready to cooperate with the United States on settling the Syrian crisis, a statement that prompted Washington to send a representative to the Kazakh capital, but sources said the United States would not actively participate in the two-day summit, which will also involve Iran and Turkey as brokers.