No Moscow meeting on Syria planned this month — embassy

AMMAN — The Russian embassy in Amman has confirmed that no meeting for a contact group on Syria is being arranged to be held in Moscow this month. 

The confirmation of the embassy was made in a letter sent to The Jordan Times on October 7 by the press attaché, following the publication of an article by the newspaper earlier this month on a possible meeting being discussed to be held in Russia in October. 

The article quoted an interview conducted by Russian news agency RIA Novosti with Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, in which he said a contact group that includes Russia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Egypt may meet in Moscow this month to discuss the Syrian crisis. 

As a Jordanian official source said, Jordan expects to be invited to any discussions on the Syrian crisis. The Russian embassy said in its letter that, “Moscow acts on the premise that all neighbouring countries should take part in international efforts to find a political solution to the Syrian crisis.”

“No meeting is being prepared to be held during this month in Moscow and no invitations have been sent,” said Taras Dobrovolskiy, the embassy’s press attaché, adding that Russian Ambassador to Jordan Boris Bolotin gave these explanations to a senior diplomat at the Foreign Ministry in Amman. 

At the time of writing the article in early September, the Russian embassy was not available to comment despite several attempts by The Jordan Times.