Astana

The three guarantors of the Astana process, namely Russia, Iran and Turkey, must meet urgently to re-install the de-escalation zones in Syria, the UN has said.

The foreign ministers of Russia, Iran and Turkey plan to meet next month to discuss the situation in Syria, Kazakh Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov said on Tuesday, quoted by Reuters. 

The Turkish, Russian, and Iranian ministers will again come together to discuss Syria at a meeting in the Kazakh capital Astana in March, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mihail Bogdanov said on Feb. 12. 

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Monday that Russia, Turkey and Iran had discussed a possible meeting of their foreign ministers on Syria, which could be held in Kazakhstan's Astana in March, the TASS news agency reported.

Bogdanov also warned against escalation in the Middle East after Israeli strikes on Syria, the RIA news agency said.

A convoy of Turkish Armed Forces on Feb. 5 moved to the fourth observation point in Syria’s Idlib, the establishment of which accords with the Astana agreement.

Members of the People's Self-Defense Force (YPG), which according to Ankara are linked to the forbidden Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), have attacked a Turkish military convoy in the northern Syrian town of Idlib, daily Sabah reports.

U.N.-brokered peace talks with the Syrian government and opposition began in Vienna on Thursday, days before Syria's close ally Russia was due to host separate negotiations to end the war.

Russian and Turkish presidents Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the situation in Syria on the phone, including in the Afrin region, where the Turkish army is operating, TASS reported, referring to the Kremlin.

Russia, Iran and Turkey have announced that a fourth track of peace talks will open in Sochi in January 2018. Both the UN and the Syrian opposition have acknowledged the new peace push without embracing it, Deutsche Wellewrites.

ASTANA - Serbia's First Deputy PM and FM Ivica Dacic on Monday paid an official visit to Kazakhstan, meeting with Minister of Defence and Aerospace Industry Beibut Atamkulov and FM Kairat Abdrakhmanov.

During the meetings, Dacic said bilateral relations between Serbia and Kazakhstan were good and friendly and that Kazakhstan was among Serbia's most significant political partners.