Russian senator sees Tehran-Moscow-Ankara convergence as 'significant'

Moscow, Jan 4, IRNA - Chairman of the Russian Federation Council's Committee for Foreign Affairs Konstantin Kosachev highlighted the existing convergence among Moscow, Tehran and Ankara on the Syrian crisis settlement as decisive and very significant. According to Rossiya Segodnya on Wednesday, he told the news agency that the year 2017 will be vital for Syria given the high importance of the contribution Iran, Russia and Turkey make in the settlement of the crisis there. He said the implementation of political programs for settlement of Syrain crisis within the framework of tripartite talks will be fruitful only if the West-Arab coalition adopts constructive or at least impartial positions in this regard. The pessimistic view, however, will be that the West continues backing anti-government forces in Syria and goes on with its policy of sabotaging the cooperation process among Damascus, Moscow and Tehran which will be problematic, he added. In that case, the Russian senator stressed, there will be no progress in finding a solution which will result in losing the chances in 2017. On Dec 20, 2016, Foreign ministers of Iran, Russia and Turkey held a trilateral meeting in Moscow with a focus on the humanitarian crisis in Syria, particularly dispatching emergency relief supplies to Aleppo. The talks also aimed to help establish a lasting ceasefire in Syria. 1378/IRNA