Russia invites US to join Syria peace talks in Kazakhstan

Russia has invited the US to attend Syrian peace talks, which are due to take place in Kazakhstan three days after the inauguration of Donald Trump as president – a gesture that underlines Moscow's determination to use efforts at resolving the conflict to kick-start dialogue with the incoming US administration.

"We think it is right to invite representatives of the UN and representatives of the new US administration to this meeting, given the fact this meeting will be held on January 23rd, as has been scheduled," Sergei Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, said on Tuesday.

“It will be the first contact, already an official one, during which it will be possible to start discussing ways to wage an effective war against terrorism,” he said.

The foreign minister’s remarks are the first concrete public move towards interacting with Mr Trump’s administration.

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Moscow has consistently singled out the Syrian conflict and fighting international terrorism as priority areas for co-operation with the next US government, but in recent weeks insisted there would be no talks or meaningful contacts with Mr Trump’s team before the inauguration.

Join efforts

Russia announced on December 29th that it had, with Turkey, negotiated a ceasefire between Syrian government troops and opposition groups, guaranteed by Moscow, Ankara and Tehran. At the time, Mr Lavrov said Russia hoped the US would join efforts at resolving the conflict after Mr Trump takes office.

Tuesday's invitation takes things a step further by making the talks in Astana, the Kazakh capital, an early test of how Washington will respond.

Russia is pushing to present the negotiations as the most legitimate forum for political resolution of the Syria conflict.

While Moscow says it is not trying to compete with UN-backed political talks in Geneva, it argues that those involve mostly members of the Syrian diaspora. The Russians say the Astana talks are the only platform where armed opposition groups from inside the country are present.

Observers are calling this legitimacy into question because many rebel groups have suspended their agreement to participate amid frequent breaches of the ceasefire.

Mr Lavrov said Moscow hoped the Trump administration would accept the invitation, and it was up to Washington to send experts at any level it thought appropriate.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2017