Sources in the US State Department say that they received an invitation to the Congress of the Syrian National Dialogue, which will be held in Sochi. However, there is no official confirmation of the “American presence” at this forum yet. Meanwhile, the State Department spokesman indicated that the US, as before, “is focused on supporting the Geneva talks”.
The invitation to the United States to participate in the forum in Sochi was sent on Tuesday, January 23, by Russian President’s Special Representative for Syria Alexander Lavrentiev – on behalf of Russia, Iran and Turkey. In addition, similar invitations were sent to UN representatives and observers from Great Britain, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Kazakhstan, China, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and France.
Recall that the last, the eighth round of the Geneva talks, to which the United States continues to orient, was held in Geneva from November 28 to December 14, 2017 and was another failure among the same meetings on the Syrian problem.
Direct negotiations between the delegations of Syria were failed to start. Representatives of Damascus called the opposition’s demand for the resignation of President Bashar Assad unacceptable. The opposition, which put forward this condition, decided not to change it.
Special envoy of the UN Secretary-General Staffan de Mistura called the round “a lost golden opportunity.”