IRNA � Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov has said that Moscow and Tehran follow the same strategy outlined by the two countries' presidents to preserve the Syrian solidarity and the rights of the Syrian people to decide on their fate.


Speaking to IRNA here on Friday, Bogdanov said Russian and Iranian views focusing on the political solution to the Syrian crisis have been reflected in the extensive ceasefire resolution in that country.

After his bilateral talks with the visiting Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Jaberi Ansari, Bogdanov said Moscow and Tehran have been holding negotiations about the issue for years.

Russian-Iranian talks, to which Turkey is added, led to stopping the war operations in Syria on Dec 30 and planning for the negotiations between the Syrian sides that are slated for Jan 23 in the Kazakh capital, Bogdanov noted.

Describing the Astana talks as preliminary to the political solution to the Syrian crisis, Bogdanov said the more efforts Russia, Iran and Turkey make, the more successful the Astana talks will be.

Bogdanov further named Iran as the major partner in solving the Syrian crisis.

He then expressed hope that the Intra-Syrian talks will be resumed in Geneva.

After the Dec 30 trilateral meeting between Iran, Russian and Turkey in Moscow, the three sides issued a statement focusing on fight against the terrorist group of Daesh and Jabhat al-Nusra as well as the global invitation for cooperation in combat against terrorism, preservation of the territorial integrity of Syria and the country's solidarity and also avoidance of a military way to the Syrian crisis.

The statement also concentrated on other important issues including the dispatch of aid to the crisis-stricken regions, necessity to let the people leave those regions freely and support for the upcoming Astana talks.