MOSCOW, January 19. /TASS/. The US has not yet informed the Astana meeting’s organizers if it planned to participate, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.
When asked who had sent invitations to Washington, she elaborated that all the co-sponsors of the process had sent their invitations. "Moreover, the US has confirmed it received the invitations," Zakharova noted.
"The US has not yet informed us on its participation plans," she said. "The preparations are in full swing, the format of the meeting and the participants list are under consideration."
She also said that "it is not that everyone is waiting with bated breath for US to announce if it plans to participate." "We have work to do, the work is underway, the invitations have been sent, things have been going in the right direction," Zakharova concluded.
The US embassy in Moscow earlier told TASS that it had received the invitations to the Astana talks on Syria and passed them to Washington.
The upcoming talks between the Syrian government and the armed opposition groups were announced after a trilateral meeting between Russia, Turkey and Iran held on December 20, 2016. The three countries’ foreign ministers, who took part in the meeting, spoke out for establishing a nationwide ceasefire in Syria.