MOSCOW, October 20. /TASS/. Russia regrets a US delegation is absent from the Moscow format talks on Afghanistan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in his opening remarks.

"We regret our American counterparts do not participate this time," he said.

Lavrov recalled that the United States dodged participation in a meeting of the enlarged troika (Russia, the United States, China and Pakistan) for a second time and voiced the hope there were no fundamental problems behind this.

"One of the possible reasons is the US special envoy for Afghanistan has been replaced," Lavrov said. "It is to be hoped that the United States remains ready to keep working on the Afghan track and the new special envoy will join the efforts, including those to be exerted following the Moscow format meeting in the context of implementing the agreements that you will achieve today, I hope".