Iran, Russia and Turkey held a trilateral meeting in Moscow last week to discuss a political settlement of the Syrian conflict, and representatives of Kazakhstan announced that they would contribute to the peace talks at a new venue - Astana. It is not clear, whether this format will be able to supplement or replace the Geneva talks on Syria.
"The emergence of trilateral format is positive because at least it is a format. By October 2016, all the negotiating formats on Syria available at that time were almost done. It was not even the Geneva process, which died last, it initially looked quite shabby, Russia's attempts to cooperate with the Americans on Syria in varying degrees died last. Therefore, it is good that there was at least something, around which it will be possible to create additional institutions and additional tools," a professor of the Higher School of Economics Dmitry Evstafiev said.
However, he urged not to forget why the tripartite process has been made possible: "It emerged on the basis of quite remarkable visible successes of Russia and strengthening of the military capabilities of Assad's army. If it did not, believe me, neither Tehran, nor Ankara would have an idea about a political cooperation with Russia on Syria. I am absolutely sure that when we weaken our military actions in Syria, the idea of political cooperation in Tehran and Ankara will immediately disappear. And we should see where they will disappear more quickly. I'm afraid that in Tehran".
According to Evstafiev, various types of political ideas and structures are developing on the basis of a new military configuration. "I think that the current situation is quite important and landmark, although there has been no breakthrough yet," the expert said.
