MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Recently Russian Foreign Minster Sergei Lavrov stated that Russia has been receiving signals from Turkey that the representatives of Syrian armed opposition are preparing for participation in the next round of Astana talks on Syrian crisis settlement.
The next round of Astana talks between Syria's government and armed opposition delegations is scheduled for early May.
"As for ensuring separation of opposition from terrorists, the most important issue is to provide an environment for achieving a political settlement, to give these people signs of hope because sometimes their despair pushes them to cooperate with terrorists … In any case we should join efforts in order to create conditions for finalizing the process of separation so that the Syrian opposition and the Syrian people become the most powerful force in the fight against terrorism," Al-Thani said at a press conference after a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.
The fifth round of the UN-mediated Geneva negotiations on Syrian reconciliation concluded on March 31 without a breakthrough.
Astana provides a separate platform for Syrian peace talks, with three rounds of negotiations since the beginning of the year.
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