WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Russia is currently in contact with third party states that will possibly send their observers to monitor safe zones in Syria in accordance with a memorandum signed in Astana, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters.
"The memorandum assumes that observers from third party countries would be invited to ensure the proper functioning of these safe zones… We are now in talks with possible participants of this process," Lavrov stated on Thursday. "We think that we will be able to discuss it in more details with our partners sometime soon."
Lavrov stressed he did not discuss with US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson whether the United States would send their observers to safe zones in Syria.
"We have not discussed [this]," Lavrov told reporters. "We have just said that we would welcome any US contribution to the process, especially given that Donald Trump was the first to talk about the importance of creation these safe zones."
A Russia-proposed initiative to this effect was endorsed last week by Turkey and Iran at Syrian talks in Kazakhstan’s Astana. The three guarantors of Syrian peace reached a deal – backed by the Syrian government and some opposition forces – which came into being at midnight last Saturday.
Four zones have been agreed spanning Syria’s northwestern Idlib province and parts of the neighboring Latakia, Hama and Aleppo, the north of the central Homs province, Eastern Ghouta near Damascus, as well as southern Daraa and Quneitra regions. They will be patrolled by foreign forces, with checkpoints set up around the perimeter to allow for the safe return of refugees.
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