Video Linkups on Syria to Be Held on Regular Basis - Russian Upper House Speaker

Online video linkup on intra-Syrian reconciliation is a “timely initiative” allowing lawmakers from any country to take part in the discussion and will be held on a regular basis, speaker of the upper house of Russia's parliament Valentina Matvienko said Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Thursday, the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency held in its press center a Moscow-Damascus-Astana video linkup on intra-Syrian reconciliation with participation of lawmakers and experts.

“By using modern technologies all interested parliament members from any country can take part in the discussion on the situation in Syria, to promote peaceful settlement [of the conflict] in this country. Russian lawmakers are doing everything to establish peace on the Syrian land, today it is one of the key priorities of our inter-parliamentary diplomacy. Online video linkups will be held regularly,” Matvienko said as quoted by the the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper.

According to Matvienko, the emergence of video linkups as a new form of communication with foreign partners on the Syrian settlement is an important event to the Russian upper house of the parliament and its lawmakers.

“This is a timely initiative, a truly democratic form of dialogue, when each participant has an equal opportunity to be heard and to listen to others,” Matvienko said.

Еhe second round of talks on Syria in Astana brokered by Russia, Turkey and Iran kicked off on Thursday. The first round of talks was held on January 23-24 and resulted in a Moscow-Tehran-Ankara agreement on the establishment of a trilateral mechanism to monitor the ceasefire in Syria.