UNSC Admits Importance of Astana Talks on Syria, Looks Forward to Geneva Round

The UN Security Council acknowledged the importance of Astana talks on Syria and is looking forward to their resumption in Geneva, urging the Syrian sides to participate without preconditions, according to a Security Council statement.

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) — Representatives of the Syrian government and opposition factions met in Astana for talks brokered by Moscow, Ankara and Tehran on January 23-24.

"The members of the Security Council look forward to the resumption of intra-Syrian negotiations, encouraged in the context the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria Mr. Staffan de Mistura to reconvene the negotiations as soon as possible in Geneva and urged the Syrian parties to participate in the negotiations in good faith and without preconditions," the statement said.

On Tuesday, UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said that he asked the Security Council to postpone the intra-Syrian peace talks in Geneva the talks until the 20th of February. Initially the talks were slated for February 8th.

De Mistura stressed that the Syrian government will have an opportunity to engage in serious discussions on the issue and opposition groups, in their turn, will be given a chance to come to the Geneva talks as one unified group.