Russia, U.A.E., Türkiye Stress Support for Syrian National Sovereignty

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has spoken to Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in the last day. “Both sides expressed serious concerns of the dangerous development of the situation in the Syrian Arab Republic in connection with the military escalation in Aleppo and Idlib provinces,” the ministry said, reported TASS. “The need was confirmed to coordinate joint activities for purposes of stabilizing the situation in Syria, in the first instance with the use of the Astana format’s potential,” the ministry added. This refers to the process begun in January 2017, hosted by Kazakhstan, sponsored by Türkiye, Russia and Iran, and conducted under the auspices of the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria. There have been 22 meetings so far, with the latest on Nov. 11