Bypassing Obama, Russia invites Trump team to Syria talks

Russia has invited Donald Trump’s incoming administration to attend upcoming Syrian peace talks in Kazakhstan, The Washington Post reported Friday, bypassing the Obama administration which has been notably absent from the process.
Turkey, which is co-hosting the talks with Russia, has said Washington would be asked to join the talks being held in the Kazakh capital Astana, likely on Jan. 23.
But there has been no confirmation from Moscow, and the current US administration said Friday it had not been asked to take part.
“We have not received any kind of formal invitation to the meeting,” said State Department spokesman Mark Toner.
“But if we do receive an invitation, we will certainly make a recommendation” to Trump’s incoming administration to honor it, he said.
The timetable would put the meeting just three days after the Republican president-elect takes office on Jan. 20, succeeding the Democrat Barack Obama.
Invitations to the talks have yet to be sent out, and the format of the discussions remains unclear.
But according to The Washington Post, the Russian ambassador to Washington, Sergey Kislyak, extended an invitation to attend the upcoming talks in a Dec. 28 telephone conversation with Trump’s incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn.
The Post quoted an unidentified official with Trump’s transition team as saying that “no decision was made” during the call, adding: “I don’t have anything additional on US attendance at this time.”
The Astana meeting should serve as a preamble to the next round of peace negotiations between the Syrian regime and opposition in Geneva on Feb. 8 under the UN auspices.
“Our recommendation would be — and we’ve said this before — that we support any effort aimed at getting political negotiations back up and running in Geneva and aimed at solidifying the cease-fire in Syria,” the US State Department spokesman said.

Source: Arab News