Moscow Vows to Continue Advancing Syria Safe Zones Proposal

Russia will continue to promote its proposal to create safe zones in Syria and has already submitted a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said Wednesday.

GENEVA (Sputnik) — On May 4, Russia, Turkey and Iran signed a memorandum on the establishment of safe zones in war-torn Syria as part of the the Astana talks on Syrian settlement. The four zones include the northwestern Idlib province and parts of the neighboring Latakia, Hama and Aleppo provinces, the north of the central Homs province, eastern Ghouta near Damascus and certain parts in the country's southern Deraa and Quneitra provinces.

The memorandum on these de-escalation zones took effect on May 6.

"We submitted our draft resolution on this matter. It is on the table of the UN Security Council. We will continue to promote our proposals depending on the course of consultations in other formats," Gatilov said following his meeting with UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura.

Gatilov's meeting with de Mistura took place during the sixth round of intra-Syrian talks that kicked of in Geneva earlier in the day.

The agreement between Moscow, Tehran and Ankara presumes the cessation of airstrikes and combat actions between the Syrian Army and militants who have already joined or will join the ceasefire regime, according to Chief of the Russian General Staff's Main Operational Directorate Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy.

The deal was discussed earlier this week during talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi.