UNITED NATIONS, February 1. /TASS/. The United Nations Security Council welcomed the Astana talks between Damascus and the Syrian opposition and urged to reconvene the discussions under the auspices of the UN as soon as possible, according to its statement.

The UNSC members stressed the importance of talks held in the Kazakh capital on January 23-24 for relaunching of the negotiations on Syria in Switzerland’s Geneva.

"The members of the Security Council look forward to the resumption of intra-Syrian negotiations, encouraged in the context the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria Mr. Staffan de Mistura to reconvene the negotiations as soon as possible in Geneva and urged the Syrian parties to participate in the negotiations in good faith and without preconditions," the statement said. The UNSC stressed the need to observe the ceasefire in Syria and continue the efforts on political settlement of the crisis. They also called to fight against terrorist groups. The text of the document was put forward by the Russian delegation.

On Monday, the UNSC held a meeting behind the closed doors attended by de Mistura. The envoy told reporters after the discussions that he plans to resume the talks between Damascus and the opposition on February 20.