Astana to host new round of Syria talks as Russia starts to withdraw its troops

Tabnak – As the new round of UN-mediated talks between the Syrian government and the opposition is still ongoing in Geneva, Kazakh capital of Astana will soon host the fresh round of another diplomatic initiative regarding Syria. This comes as Russia has declared the start of withdrawal of its troops from Syria.

Press TV reports that Kazakhstan is set to hold a fresh round of Syrian peace talks in Astana next week, as part of efforts to put an end to a six-year conflict in the war-ravaged Arab country.

The Kazakh Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday that the two-day negotiations would begin on December 21 and would focus on the release of prisoners, the delivery of humanitarian aid and the functioning of de-escalation zones and other issues.

The Astana peace process has been underway since January with the mediation of Iran and Russia, the Syrian government’s allies, and Turkey, which supports armed opposition groups.

The latest round of the talks was held late October, with the three states agreeing on a Russian initiative for holding a congress with the participation of Syria’s conflicting sides in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

The fresh round of talks comes as Russia’s President Vladimir Putin earlier on Monday ordered Russian forces in Syria to begin withdrawing during a surprise visit to the war-torn country.

Putin visited Russia's Hmeimim air base in Latakia province on Monday and also held talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. "I order the defense minister and the chief of general staff to start withdrawing the Russian group of troops to their permanent bases," RIA quoted Putin as saying.

"The task of fighting armed bandits here in Syria, a task that was essential to solve with the help of extensive use of armed force, has for the most part, been solved and solved spectacularly," Putin said.

Following Putin’s remarks, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that elements of Moscow’s military contingent to Syria had already begun returning to Russia, the RIA news agency reported.

It should be noted that within the context of diplomatic talks, Iran, Russia and Turkey, which serve as guarantor states of a ceasefire in Syria, agreed on setting up four de-escalation zones in the country’s militant-held northwestern province of Idlib, the central province of Homs and the Eastern Ghouta area outside of the capital Damascus.

In a sign of a closer cooperation between the three Astana partners, Putin visited Ankara yesterday, meeting with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "We are conducting joint work to prepare and convene the Syrian National Dialogue Congress at the beginning of the next year," he said after talks with Erdogan. "It is a secret to no one that I spoke about it with President Assad during my today’s visit to Syria."

Previous rounds of negotiations under the auspices of the UN over the past five years have failed to achieve tangible results, mainly due to the opposition’s insistence that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should cede power.