"We consider a priority task at present, as President Putin said at a meeting with [German Vice-Chancellor] Gabriel, is the fight against terrorism and extremism in Syria," Peskov told reporters in Moscow.
"At least, as the president said, striking a significant blow at terrorist and extremist groups. After that, we could talk in concrete detail about the political settlement," Peskov stressed.
The Kremlin spokesman also stressed that Moscow supported the widest possible discussion of a political settlement in Syria including all regional stakeholders.
Russia has been conducting precision airstrikes at Islamic State militant group positions in Syria at the request of President Bashar Assad since September 30. Several hundreds of militants have been killed, dozens of command centers and depots destroyed since the beginning of Russia’s aerial campaign, according to the Russian General Staff.
Moscow has also supported Syrian political settlement, hosting two rounds of intra-Syrian reconciliation talks in 2015.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that regional powers like Iran, Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan should participate in discussions on the political settlement of Syria.
