Trio's Coop. in Syria Fruitful

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday the trilateral collaboration among Russia, Turkey and Iran to settle the lingering conflict in Syria was paying off, preparing the ground for dialogue. Speaking after a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Russian city of Sochi, Putin said the trio has managed to reduce the level of violence in the war-torn Arab country and it was time for promoting intra-Syrian dialogue under the auspices of the UN, RT reported. Russia, Turkey and Iran are guarantors of the four de-escalation zones in Syria, which were agreed during talks in the Kazakh capital Astana in May. Putin told reporters that he and Erdogan had agreed to "step up efforts to ensure long-term normalization in this country, primarily to advance the process of political settlement and to assist the Syrians in post-conflict reconstruction." The Turkish leader echoed Putin by hailing the Astana meetings for "reducing violence", adding that Ankara and Moscow were in agreement that they should focus on the political resolution of the crisis. In a related development, IRNA reported on Tuesday that Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Jaberi Ansari had left Tehran for Moscow to discuss the latest regional developments with Russian officials.