MOSCOW, October 15. /TASS/. Russia confirms that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will participate in the ‘3+3’ format meeting on South Caucasus in Istanbul on October 18, Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS.

"We confirm that Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov’s participation has been planned," she noted, answering a question.

The '3+3' format was proposed by Presidents of Azerbaijan and Turkey Ilham Aliyev and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in late 2020; the proposed format included six countries: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and Russia, Turkey and Iran. Later, the format was dubbed '3+3'. Russia and Iran welcomed this idea, also joined by Armenia. Georgia, however, said that it will not participate in this initiative. On December 10, 2021, the first meeting at the level of deputy foreign ministers of five countries took place in Moscow. The last meeting at the level of foreign ministers took place in Tehran in October, 2023.