MOSCOW, January 21. /TASS/. The United States will not send a delegation to Kazakhstan’s capital of Astana from Washington to attend the peace talks on Syria scheduled for January 23-24 but U.S. Ambassador to Kazakhstan George Krol will represent the country, Mark Toner, the acting deputy spokesperson for the US State Department, told TASS on Saturday.
"We welcome and appreciate Kazakhstan’s invitation to participate as an observer. Given our presidential inauguration and the immediate demands of the transition, a delegation from Washington will not be attending the Astana conference. The United States will be represented by our Ambassador to Kazakhstan," Toner said.
The spokesperson confirmed that the U.S. government had received an invitation from Kazakhstan’s government to attend the January 23 talks in Astana.
"The United States is committed to a political resolution to the Syrian crisis through a Syrian-owned process, which can bring about a more representative, peaceful, and united Syria," Toner said.·
·Earlier, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia would welcome the participation of US representatives at the Astana talks.
"On Syria, we need not a deal, but cooperation," he said, answering a question on a possible Russian-US deal on Syria. "Apparently, without the US participation it is impossible to settle constructively the Syrian problem," he added in a comment on preparations for the Syria peace talks due in Astana on January 23.
Astana will play host to negotiations on the Syria crisis on January 23. Nonetheless, many details are yet unknown. Representatives of the Syrian government and armed opposition are expected to attend the meeting alongside delegations of the countries that are playing key role in resolving the Syrian crisis. A final list of attendees is yet to be announced.