Russia, Iran and Turkey to discuss Syria ‘peace’ in Astana

President Vladimir Putin said today that Russia, Iran, Turkey and Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad had all agreed that the Kazakh capital of Astana should be the venue for new Syrian peace negotiations.

Russia, Iran and Turkey held talks in Moscow on Tuesday after which they said they were ready to help broker a Syrian peace deal. Putin proposed holding the negotiations in Kazakhstan, a close Russian ally.

Russian airstrikes were instrumental in helping the Assad regime wipe out opposition resistance this month in the northern city of Aleppo, handing him his biggest victory in nearly six years of war and strengthening his negotiating hand.

Previous diplomatic attempts to end the conflict have repeatedly failed. Despite the government’s recapture of Aleppo, large parts of Syria are still controlled by opposition groups, as well as more extremist factions such as Daesh.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said he expected the talks in Astana to take place in mid-January. But TASS news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying: “I wouldn’t talk now about timing. Right now contacts are being made and preparation is under way for the meeting.”

He said Putin would have a series of international telephone calls later today to discuss the Astana talks. Speaking at his end-of-year news conference, Putin said the next step for Syria would be a nationwide ceasefire.

In a sign of dwindling influence from the US administration, the United States was notably not invited to the talks in Moscow earlier this week, and there are currently no indications that Washington will have a seat at the table in Astana.