MOSCOW. Jan 17 (Interfax) - Russia is inviting UN and U.S. representatives to the meeting on the Syrian issue in the Kazakh capital Astana and hopes that the new U.S. administration will be represented at this meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"In our opinion, it is right to invite representatives of the UN and representatives of the new administration of the United States to this meeting [the meeting being prepared in Astana at the initiative of Russia, Turkey and Iran between armed groups that have signed the December 29 truce agreement and the Syrian government], given the fact that the meeting will be held on January 23, as it has now been scheduled," Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow on Tuesday.
Hopefully, the new Washington administration "will be able to accept this invitation and will be represented by its experts at any level which it deems to be possible," he said.
"It will be the first contact, already an official one, during which it will be possible to start to discuss ways to wage an effective fight against terrorism," Lavrov said.