ANKARA, April 4. /TASS/. A new round of talks on Syria will be held on May 14-15 in Astana. "We’ve got [a new round of talks on Astana] scheduled for [May] 14-15 so far," Russian Special Presidential Representatives for the Syrian Settlement Alexander Lavrentyev told reporters.

The Astana peace process

In 2017, representatives of three countries have initiated the process of peace talks in Astana, which involved Syria’s government and the Syrian opposition delegation. Russia, Iran and Turkey undertook obligations to guarantee the ceasefire. The Astana peace process (eight rounds of talks have been held by March 2018, the last one on December 21-22, 2017) helped stabilize the situation in Syria. The sides agreed to establish de-escalation zones - territories where hostilities between the government forces and the armed opposition that joined the ceasefire ended. These zones were established in Eastern Ghouta, in the north of the Homs Governorate, in the Idlib Governorate and parts of neighboring Latakia, Hama and Aleppo Governorates, as well as in the areas of the Daraa and Quneitra Governorates in the south of the country. It was agreed that the Iranian, Russian and Turkish forces would monitor the Idlib Governorate and the Russian military police would monitor all the other areas.