Turkey, Russia prepping another Syria summit: Kremlin

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has discussed with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan holding another trilateral summit on Syria including Iran, the Kremlin said on Monday.

The event will happen soon, as the two leaders discussed the details at a meeting on the sidelines of last week’s G20 summit in Osaka, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.

"This was discussed at the meeting of presidents Putin and Erdogan, indeed, such a summit was discussed. There is an understanding that it will take place soon. As the final dates of this summit are confirmed, we will inform journalists," he said.

Turkey, Russia, and Iran are the guarantor countries that brokered a cease-fire in Syria in December 2016, leading to the Astana, Kazakhstan talks, which are running parallel to the Geneva peace talks.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on protesters with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been killed and millions more displaced by the conflict.