MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/. Russia will hold the next summit in the Astana format (Moscow, Ankara, Tehran) on Syria on its territory, Russian President's Special Representative for the Syrian settlement Alexander Lavrentiev said in an interview with TASS.

"Russia will be the host country for the next summit," he said. According to Lavrentiev, "the decision to hold a new summit was made in 2022. There were certain prerequisites for holding the meeting at the end of 2023, but the situation around the Gaza Strip changed everything. Other issues arose that required prompt intervention at the highest level."

The initiators of the Astana format of political settlement in Syria were Russia, Turkey, and Iran, which also acted as guarantors of a peaceful settlement of the Syrian conflict. Representatives of official Damascus and delegations of the Syrian opposition were involved in the negotiations. Negotiations started in January 2017 in the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana.