Iran, Russia, Turkey Reaffirm Reinforcement of Syria Ceasefire

“The three countries… underlined the importance of the essential role of the Astana meetings in terms of complementing and facilitating the Geneva process, welcomed the resumption of the Geneva talks and… based on the interlinkage between the Geneva and Astana processes, they expressed their support for the continuation of the talks in Geneva on March 23, 2017,” said the joint statement by guarantor states, read out by Kazakhstan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Akylbek Kamaldinov.

Russia, Turkey and Iran as the three ceasefire guarantor states have discussed ways at the Astana talks on Syria to strengthen it and reduce violations, the three states said in a joint statement.

“The delegations of the three countries… reaffirmed their commitment to the consolidation and strengthening of the ceasefire regime, exchanged information on reports of ceasefire violations and stressed the need to reduce violations through increasing efficiency of the trilateral monitoring mechanism,” Sputnik cited the statement as saying.

Kamaldinov said that the fourth round of talks will take place on May 3-4, DNA India reported.

Kamaldinov also said that “separate consultations on expert level will be held in Tehran in April,” he said.

Earlier, Russian negotiator Alexander Lavrentiev said some of the Russian, Turkish and Iranian delegates would remain in Astana for meetings with a delegation from the Syrian opposition due to arrive in Astana later on Wednesday.