Sputnik News- The next round of Astana talks on Syria settlement will take place on February 15-16, Russian Foreign Ministrys spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.
The first roundof the intra-Syrian peace talks was held inAstana, the capital ofKazakhstan, onJanuary 23-24. The talks resulted inan agreement betweenRussia, Turkey and Iran onestablishing trilateral mechanism tomonitor the ceasefire regime inSyria.
The next roundof the UN-brokered negotiations onthe Syrian reconciliation inGeneva, is scheduled forFebruary 20.
"The preparations are underway, we assume that the meeting inAstana will take place onFebruary 15-16," Zakharova told a press briefing.
She underlined that the talks inAstana were not considered as "taken outof context ofthe political settlement inSyria".
"It is a part ofefforts, joint efforts aimed atthe settlement ofthe political crisis," Zakharova explained.
On Monday, Maj. Gen. Stanislav Gadzhimagomedov, the head ofthe Russian delegation atthe Astana meeting, said the next talks were planned forFebruary 15-16. On Tuesday, the information was confirmed byKazakhstan's Foreign Minister Kairat Abdrakhmanov.