TEHRAN- Senior Assistant to Iran’s Foreign Minister for Special Political Affairs, Hossein Jaberi Ansari on Saturday discussed with Russia’s Special Envoy to Syria Alexander Lavrentiev the latest developments in Syria, according to SANA.
The meeting comes about two weeks after the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that the next Astana meeting on the crisis in Syria would be held mid-February.
Last October 18, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Verchinen announced that upcoming Astana meeting would be held in the second half of February and the work is underway to set the date.
Eleven meetings in the Astana format were held on the crisis in Syria; one of them was held in the Russian city of Sochi last July.
All meetings affirmed the firm commitment to preserve the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Syria and to continue the war against terrorist organizations until completely eradicate them.
Bogdanov, Haddad discuss settlement of crisis in Syria
Meanwhile in Moscow, the Russian Presidential Special Representative for the Middle East and Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov discussed with Syria’s Ambassador in Moscow Riad Haddad ways to resolve the crisis in Syria, in addition to enhancing the Russian-Syrian wide-ranging cooperation.
SANA reported that the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Saturday that Bogdanov and Haddad discussed the socio-economic reconstruction in Syria and the creation of conditions for the return of the displaced to their homeland.