Syria peace talks in Astana postponed to September: Kazakhstan

A picture shows a general view of the fifth round of Syria peace talks in Kazakh capital city of Astana on July 5, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

ASTANA: Kazakhstan said Tuesday that the next talks to try to thrash out a Syria peace plan in its capital Astana may be held in mid-September, after Russia had planned to hold them in late August.
Kazakhstan鈥檚 foreign ministry wrote on Facebook that the timing of the talks would be set at a meeting this month between experts from Russia, Turkey and Iran and 鈥減rovisionally, we could be talking about mid-September.鈥�
The ministry said it was quoting diplomatic chief Kairat Abdrakhmanov鈥檚 comments to journalists on the sidelines of a government meeting.
Abdrakhmanov said that the date change was based on 鈥渋nformation received from Russia.鈥�
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told journalists in Moscow on Monday that the expert-level meeting would be held 鈥渂y the end of the month or right at the start of September.鈥�
He did not give a precise date for the full Astana talks. Russia had previously been planning a fresh round of talks in the Kazakh capital in late August.
Earlier peace talks in Astana saw Russia, Turkey and Iran hammer out a plan to establish safe zones across swathes of Syria.
UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said last week that he hopes to launch 鈥渞eal, substantive鈥� peace talks between the government and a still-to-be-formed unified Syrian opposition in October.
De Mistura has previously hosted seven rounds of largely unsuccessful talks in Geneva, with the fate of President Bashar Assad standing out as a main obstacle to progress.