According to Russia’s Foreign Ministry, Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov discussed the Syrian crisis and the Caspian Sea legal regime on phone on Monday. The Russian ministry’s statement said the talks focused on bilateral issues, the groundwork for the scheduled 5th Caspian Sea summit, and ways to end the war in Syria, Mehr News Agency reported. Iran, Russia and Turkey are supporting a Syrian peace process, known as the Astana Talks, and are collaborating to draw up a new constitution for the war-ravaged Arab nation after seven years of death and destruction. Heads of five Caspian states—Iran, Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan—are scheduled to meet in the Kazakh city of Aktau on August 16, during which the long-awaited convention on the Caspian Sea legal regime is expected to be finalized.
