ASTANA (Sputnik) — He added the sides would have to continue their thorough work and build on what had been achieved in the past two days.
"I’d like to emphasize that delegations of the Syrian government and Syria’s armed opposition met again in this hall despite mutual suspicions and allegations … I think there is a strong base that de-escalation will continue and they will have fewer differences with every meeting," Lavrentyev said in Astana.
"I cannot say it was a breakthrough but it is a step forward," he told reporters.
It is too early to consider the possibility of direct intra-Syrian dialogue as the the level of trust between the conflicting sides remains low, he said.
"The reality of talks on Syria peace process shows that direct intra-Syrian dialogue is still far from being possible. As I said before, the level of mutual distrust is rather high and many mutual accusations still remain," Lavrentyev, who heads the Russian delegation at Syria peace consultations in Astana, told reporters.
"But I believe that we must move ahead every time, step-by-step, without leaving any space for confrontation," Lavrentyev stressed.
The Astana talks on Syrian settlement have proved to be a resilient platform for upholding the ceasefire and enabling a political solution for the Syrian conflict, Lavrentyev said.
"The Astana platform is unique in itself, and has, of course, proven its viability. It is the Astana platform where the most important issues are resolved, including issues of maintaining the ceasefire. I think that this is one of the priorities which will help in setting up a truly constructive political engagement," Lavrentyev said.
Russia will do its best to push the process of searching for the right decisions on Syrian settlement and to promote the intra-Syrian dialogue, he said.
"Russia, for its part, will, of course, do its best to stimulate the process of search for the right decisions on Syrian settlement and do everything possible to promote the political negotiation process at the bilateral level."
None of the conflicting sides in Syria has rejected the possibility of setting up working groups on the country's draft constitution, but at the same time they have shown no intention to start the work anytime soon, Lavrentyev said Thursday.
"However, while demonstrating their readiness, the sides are still hesitant to announce their participation in setting up such groups, at least not in the near future," Lavrentyev stressed.
Moscow is not trying to force its will on anyone by proposing a draft constitution for Syria, he added. "I think this proposal should not be considered an attempt by an outside party to force through a document, something that has been hinted at – but rather as an attempt to break a deadlock in this process."
He said that Moscow and Damascus have no fundamental differences on the draft constitution proposed by Russia.
The second round of Astana talks is held in Kazakhstan's capital on February 15-16. On Wednesday, Russian, Iranian, Jordanian and Syrian delegations held a number of technical meetings.
The first round of Astana talks on Syrian crisis settlement brought together the representatives of the Syrian government and the armed opposition groups for the first time in the six years of the Syrian war. As a result of the talks, Russia, Iran and Turkey agreed to establish a trilateral mechanism to monitor the ceasefire that came into effect on December 30, 2016.
