Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit on Saturday the Turkish city of Istanbul where he will take part in the four-party summit on Syria between the leaders of Turkey, Russia, Germany and France.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th October, 2018) Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit on Saturday the Turkish city of Istanbul where he will take part in the four-party summit on Syria between the leaders of Turkey, Russia, Germany and France.
In July, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Turkey was planning to hold the summit on Syrian crisis settlement with France, Germany, and Russia in early September.
The meeting was later scheduled for October 27.
On July 31, Russian Presidential Special Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentyev told Sputnik that the summit's participants would focus on the settlement of the ongoing Syrian conflict as well as on the return of Syrian refugees.
He also expressed his hope that Germany and France would boost the humanitarian assistance for Syria via EU financial mechanisms.
Last week, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said that the parties would also discuss implementation of the Russian-Turkish agreement on the creation of a demilitarized zone in the rebel-held Syrian province of Idlib.
On October 19, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that he did not expect the summit to result in any breakthroughs.
On the sidelines of the summit, Putin is going to hold several bilateral meetings, including with Erdogan. The summit will also host bilateral talks between Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar.
Berlin and Paris said that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron would also take part in the top-level meeting.
Outgoing UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura told the UN Security Council on Friday that he was set to hold a briefing on the situation in Syria to the leaders of Russia, France, Germany and Turkey when they gathered for the summit.
"Tomorrow, I will be traveling to Istanbul to brief the presidents of France, Germany, Russia, and Turkey when they meet to discuss Syria ... I am honored by this invitation," de Mistura said.
On the threshold of the summit, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with head of the Syrian Negotiation Commission (SNC) Nasr Hariri, who called on the parties to the Syrian settlement process to boost formation of the Syrian Constitutional Committee in line with the UN Security Council resolution 2254.
