ASTANA (Sputnik) — The fourth meeting in Astana format in May was a breakthrough, as the three ceasefire guarantor states signed a memorandum on the establishment of four de-escalation zones in Syria. Monitoring over the de-escalation zones is now the main topic on the agenda of the fifth meeting in the Kazakh capital.
"It is currently difficult to speak of the presence of Russian monitors, representatives of the Russian Defense Ministry, but overall the presence of Russian military police in the buffer security zones is envisaged. Again, this issue has not been agreed on," Lavrentyev told reporters.
Earlier, Viktor Ozerov, the chairman of the defense and security committee of the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia's parliament, said that if necessary, Russia may boost its military police contingent in Syria for work in de-escalation zones.
For the first time, Russia deployed a military police unit to Aleppo in the end of 2016.
