Syria guarantors’ summit due in Sochi on Feb. 14: Russia

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says a planned meeting of the presidents of the three guarantor states of Syrian peace will be held in the Russian resort city of Sochi on February 14.

“The prospects for a settlement in Syria will be considered within a week to 10 days, i.e. on February 14, in the upcoming summit of the presidents of Russia, Iran, and Turkey in Sochi,” the top Russian diplomat said during a speech he delivered to the students of the Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University, in Kyrgyzstan’s capital city, Bishkek, on Monday.

The tripartite summit, whose main purpose is to provide further coordination among the three countries, will be held before the 12th Astana talks in the Kazakh capital, Astana.

Late last month, Lavrov said that the Astana peace talks would be attended by Russia, Iran, and Turkey, as well as observers from Jordan and the United Nations (UN).

Elsewhere in his comments on Monday, Lavrov said that work was also underway to complete the formation of the UN-sponsored Constitutional Committee to discuss the Syrian constitution as an important stage in resolving the Syrian crisis.

“In parallel with the war against terrorism, there is a current political track in which Russia, Iran, and Turkey adopted an initiative based on the decisions of the Syrian national dialog congress held a year ago in Sochi to set up a committee to discuss the constitution,” he said.

Last year, a Constitutional Committee was agreed to be established for Syria during talks in Sochi as part of the Astana peace process.

The body will include 50 members from the incumbent Damascus government and 50 opposition members. Another 50 members will be independent and chosen by the UN.

SS