Negotiations on Syria in Astana postponed indefinitely
Russia, Turkey and Iran have postponed the planned round of talks on Syria in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, which Moscow had proposed to hold June 12-13, as stated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan.
In turn, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said that the talks could resume on June 20. According to him, the meeting was postponed because the delegations were not ready.
Earlier it was reported that at the end of the last such talks in Astana last month, Russia, Turkey and Iran signed a memorandum calling for the establishment of safe zones in Syria, but some of the opposition representatives of Syria protested.
The memorandum proposed to establish four "de-escalation zones" in different parts of Syria.
Part of the Syrian opposition delegation withdrew from the negotiation process in protest against the signing of the memorandum by Iran, who is on the side of the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
The civil war in Syria has continued on since March 2011. According to human rights activists, up to 450,000 people are victims of the confrontation between supporters and opponents of Bashar al-Assad; about 5 million Syrians have become refugees.