"As you noted the third round of Astana and the concluding meeting ended without the delegation of the armed terrorist groups. Turkey as the guarantor state is responsible for impeding Astana process," Jaafari told reporters.
At the same time, according to the head of the Russian delegation to Astana talks Alexander Lavrentyev, talks with the participation of the armed Syrian opposition should continue as an important part of reconciliation efforts.
"We believe that the negotiations between the three guarantor countries and the delegation of the armed Syrian opposition in Astana, they should be continued because existing problems can be resolved only during mutual dialogue," Lavrentyev said. The first round of Astana talks on Syria brokered by Russia, Turkey and Iran were held on January 23-24 and resulted in a Moscow-Tehran-Ankara agreement on the establishment of a trilateral mechanism to monitor the ceasefire in Syria.
The third round of intra-Syrian talks in Astana will take place on March 14-15, with the consultations to be held on the first day and the plenary session to take place on Wednesday.
