Astana-Format Diplomats" Meeting to Take Place in Doha - Russian FM

"we, as ministers of foreign affairs, would discuss the situation, hopefully, this coming Friday. And the military of all three countries and the security people are in contact with each other," Lavro said.

Photo: © Mikhail Tereshchenko/TASS

A meeting on Syria in the Astana format (Iran, Russia, Turkey) at the level of foreign ministers is expected to take place in Qatar’s capital on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with prominent US journalist Tucker Carlson, The Caspian Post reports citing TASS.

"This Astana format is a useful combination of players, if you wish. We are very much concerned. And when this happened, with Aleppo and surroundings, I had a conversation with the Turkish minister of foreign affairs and with my Iranian colleague. We agreed to try to meet this week. Hopefully in Doha at the margins of this international conference," the top Russian diplomat said.

"So we, as ministers of foreign affairs, would discuss the situation, hopefully, this coming Friday. And the military of all three countries and the security people are in contact with each other," he added. "We would like to discuss the need to come back to strict implementation of the deals on Idlib area, because Idlib de-escalation zone was the place from where the terrorists moved to take Aleppo," Lavrov noted.