Astana Meeting on Syria Doesn’t Substitute Geneva Process

MOSCOW- Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stressed that Astana is getting ready for hosting the talks on Syria, but the meeting doesn’t substitute the Geneva process.

When asked whether Kremlin confirms the invitation submitted to the administration of President-elect Donald Trump to participate in the talks on the Syrian settlement in Astana, he said: “No”.

According to Peskov, it “would not say anything particular about the proposal.”

“Astana is getting ready, the meeting is being prepared, which is a rather challenging process. It does not substitute for other formats, including the Geneva process, it looks more like supplementary parts,” he said, according to Itar Tass.

 Talks on the Syrian settlement are to be held in Astana on January 23.

On the other hand, the Kremlin believes it will be appropriate to evaluate US President-elect Donald Trump’s statements about the future of anti-Russian sanctions only after he takes office.

“Let us be patient and wait till the moment Mr. Trump takes office. Then we will be able to pass judgments on his initiatives,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media when asked about sanctions-related remarks by Trump from his recent interview.

Earlier, Trump said that he was for the conclusion of a nuclear deal with Russia, because he believed that nuclear weapons must be cut drastically.

“They have sanctions on Russia – let’s see if we can make some good deals with Russia,’’ Trump said, when asked if he was supportive of the restrictive measures introduced by the European countries. He declared that nuclear potential restrictions would be his priority in building relations with Moscow.

Peskov said no talks on reducing nuclear potentials were in progress between the United States and Russia at the moment. He recalled President Vladimir Putin’s earlier statement that the lifting of sanctions was not an issue on Russia’s agenda.

“Russia was not the one who initiated those restrictions and Russia, as its president said, is not going to bring up the issue of sanctions in the course of foreign contacts,” Peskov said.

On contacts with the Trump administration

The Russian authorities have not had any contacts with the team of President-elect Donald Trump yet, Peskov reiterated. The only exception is Russia’s ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak, who is in contact with Trump’s national security adviser Michael Flynn, Peskov explained:

“There are no other contacts.”

Peskov added that Kislyak and Flynn contact each other on “protocol issues.

“Of course, our ambassador in Washington has such contacts in order to swiftly consider such issues, that is a standard procedure,” Peskov said

He reiterated that so far Russia has not established any contacts with the office of the US President-elect yet.

“Let’s wait for inauguration,” Putin’s spokesman said.

H.M